A tour of the Björk exhibition at MoMA
MoMA’s Björk retrospective was a critical dud, but the installations were highly photogenic -- which means the museum can console itself with some excellent Instagrams. Seen here: a Swarovski crystal mask designed by Val Garland, which was re-created for the show.
(Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)A retrospective devoted to the music and costumes of the composer and singer Björk at New York’s Museum of Modern Art has drawn invective from art critics, who say the show needed better curation. The Times pays a visit.
The exhibition was mounted in a special two-story pavilion that occupied the museum’s central atrium.
(Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)Visitors entered the exhibition on the first floor, into a darkened room that displayed the video from the song “Black Lake,” from the singer’s latest album “Vulnicura.” (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
After poring through videos downstairs, visitors go upstairs, where they enter the show through a narrow hallway lined with TV monitors and sheet music (very theme park). It is here that the infamous headsets are distributed.
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The headsets feature a poetic narration conceived by Björk with the Icelandic author Sjón. It offers plenty of metaphor, but little insight into the exhibition. Seen here: the 1993 model of the singer from her first solo album, “Debut.” I had the same expression as I listened to the audio. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
While many of the pieces were quite interesting, the display, at times, felt a little Planet Hollywood -- such as the case featuring the leather shoes designed by Walter van Beirendonck, worn by the singer in the video for the 1996 single ‘Hyperballad.’ (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
Punctuating the show are Björk’s myriad notebooks, which feature elements of collage, as well as thoughts, phrases and possible lyrics (as well as some very artfully splashed coffee). Unfortunately, these do little to illuminate her song-writing process. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
Displayed on a light-box is one of Björk’s more iconic album covers. Except rather than featuring a still image, this one blinks. I would have liked to have been a fly on a wall at the meeting in which this scintillating curatorial decision was made. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
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A visitor to the museum examines the robots used in the 1999 video for “All is Full of Love.” (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
One small alcove harbored a mannequin with the
And, of course, there’s the singer’s iconic swan dress. Designed by Macedonian designer Marjan Pejoski, this was the frock that got the entire planet tittering when she wore it to the Oscars ceremony in 2001. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
Certainly, if there was one thing that came across in the exhibition, it’s that Björk has always been daring when it comes to her aesthetics. This is another dress by McQueen, created for her 2004 video “Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right).”
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Björk’s cartoony mountaineer get-up from the video for ‘Wanderlust’ from 2007. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
A museum visitor takes in the knitted outfits worn by the singer for the album ‘Volta.” They were created by the art collective Icelandic Love Corporation.
(Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)