Björk (exhibition)

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Alexander McQueen-designed clothing from Medúlla's album cover on display
Replicas of the robots from the "All Is Full of Love" music video on display

Björk was an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City about the Icelandic singer of the same name. Exhibited at MoMA from March 8 to June 7, 2015, Björk was a "retrospective" showing comprising audio, video, fashion, instruments, and other objects pertaining to her career.[1]

Björk received generally negative reviews from critics, many of whom labelled the exhibition as either unambitious, incomplete, or similar to other MoMA exhibitions.

Background and development

On June 12, 2014, it was announced that the Biophilia apps were to be featured as part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, thus becoming the first app to be part of the museum collection.[2] A week later, the museum announced that a retrospective exhibition of the singer's work will take place starting on March 8, 2015, until June 7, 2015.[1][3][4]

Description

Björk is curated by the director of MoMA PS1, Klaus Biesenbach, who commented on the exhibition: "Björk is an extraordinarily innovative artist whose contributions to contemporary music, video, film, fashion, and art have had a major impact on her generation worldwide, this highly experimental exhibition offers visitors a direct experience of her hugely collaborative body of work".[5]

The exhibit incorporated a new commission from MoMA which saw Björk reunited with award-winning video director Andrew Thomas Huang ("Mutual Core") presenting a brand new work. In addition, elements from her previous seven studio albums (excluding her 1977 juvenilia work Björk) and her multiple collaborations with fashion designers, video directors, and photographers[citation needed] were presented as a mid career 'Retrospective'. Childhood friend, theatrical director, and acclaimed actress Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir and lyrical collaborator esteemed Icelandic poet Sjón have contributed to a highly original Acousmatic Sound audio narrative for visitors to the exhibit.

Critical reception

Björk received generally negative reviews from critics.[6][7] Roberta Smith of The New York Times stated that the exhibition "[lacked] the ambition to do [Björk's] ambition justice" and that it stood as an overt sign "of the museum’s urge to be all things to all people, its disdain for its core audience, its frequent curatorial slackness and its indifference to the handling of crowds and the needs of its visitors."[8] In a mixed-to-negative review, The Guardian's Jason Farago remarked that Björk was "one part Rock and Roll Hall of Fame exercise, one part science lab, one part synesthesia experiment, one part Madame Tussaud’s [sic] parody – but [not] two parts anything", but additionally noted that the exhibition was still worth visiting to visualize how Björk "built a cooperative artistic practice that spanned media and registers, high and low, to unprecedented public effect."[9]

Jerry Saltz of Vulture also negatively reviewed the show, stating that he found it to be a "discombobulated mess" and that it was "not yet up to museum or gallery standards."[7] The Week additionally stated that there wasn't "enough in [the] cramped, snaking rooms to hold your interest" for the 40-minute audio tour,[10] while ARTnews' M. H. Miller opined that the exhibition was "hardly a retrospective—it’s starfucking, something increasingly familiar at MoMA, and a failure even at that."[11] In a more positive review, Claire Lobenfield of Fact stated that "Björk, as a whole, is an exhibition about processing, and it works best if you give yourself over to it and allow yourself to process, too." Lobenfield additionally observed that when touring the exhibition from the 'Songlines' audio tour to the screening room for the trailer of the music video for "Black Lake", "a romance from its wide-eyed beginning to its molten end fully comes together."[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Björk: March 8–June 7, 2015". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  2. ^ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (June 12, 2014). "Bjork's Biophilia becomes first app in New York's Museum of Modern Art". The Guardian. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  3. ^ Gordon, Jeremy (18 June 2014). "Museum of Modern Art to Stage Björk Retrospective". Pitchfork. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Bjork retrospective planned at Museum of Modern Art". BBC. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  5. ^ Tsjeng, Zing (June 18, 2014). "Björk announces first ever retrospective at MoMA". Dazed. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  6. ^ Breihan, Tom (5 March 2015). "Art Critics Hate Björk's MoMa Retrospective". Stereogum. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  7. ^ a b Saltz, Jerry (5 March 2015). "MoMA's Björk Disaster". Vulture. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  8. ^ Smith, Roberta (5 March 2015). "Björk, a One-of-a-Kind Artist, Proves Elusive at MoMA". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  9. ^ Farago, Jason (4 March 2015). "Björk review – a strangely unambitious hotchpotch". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  10. ^ Spaeth, Ryu (4 March 2015). "Bjork at MoMA: A review". The Week. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  11. ^ Miller, M. H. (4 March 2015). "State of Emergency: Biesenbach's Björk Show Turns MoMA Into Planet Hollywood". ARTnews. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  12. ^ Lobenfield, Claire (4 March 2015). "Björk's MoMA exhibition is an emotional journey through her past, present and future". Fact. Retrieved 23 April 2024.

External links

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