Björk’s Hometown Museum Hosts Intimate Retrospective Following MoMA Criticism
National Gallery of Iceland presents "echolalia," a smaller-scale Björk exhibition featuring installations, videos, and works with collaborators, offering a contrast to her 2015 MoMA show.
The National Gallery of Iceland is hosting "echolalia," an exhibition by musician Björk that presents a more modest survey of her work than her 2015 retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art, which received negative reviews. The show is part of the Reykjavík Arts Festival programming and includes installations, videos, and collaborative pieces.
Central to the exhibition is "Nerve Bloom," a new song installation created with painter Natalia Kleszczewska and 3D graphics designer Natalie Liu. It features animated figures on screens and a dual-screen video with horses, combining painterly and digital elements. The work is described as the most fully realized in the show, which otherwise focuses on existing works from Björk's 2022 album Fossora.
The exhibition includes "Sorrowful Soil," presented with a new arrangement for choir and 30 high-fidelity speakers, inspired by Janet Cardiff's sound art piece. The accompanying video shows Björk performing near lava from the Fagradalsfjall volcano. Also on view is "Ancestress," written after the death of Björk's mother, environmental activist Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir, in 2018. Both songs relate to her mother and are shown in spaces designed for immersive viewing.
The museum also hosts a companion exhibition for James Merry, who has made masks and jewelry for Björk's tours. Merry's show includes his own works and focuses on his collaboration with Björk, which began in 2009. A shared catalog accompanies both exhibitions, curated as interconnected presentations.
