Björk’s “Black Lake” Video Marries Technology And Nature For A Heavy Emotional Experience

Until now, the video for Björk's shuddering ballad "Black Lake" was only viewable in an installation in the MoMA, where the form of its presentation mirrored the video's own themes. As Björk, on-screen, found herself recoiling and writhing among walls of black rock, eventually being reborn into a beautiful field, museum-goers were blasted with noise from two black walls and a black ceiling, hammered by the heaviness of the song's story, before emerging squinting through tears into a bright gallery and their normal everyday lives. Now you can watch it online, the experience of the video is still as intense as can be: the natural, foreboding textures of it seem to leap out of the screen as readily as the song's cavernous beats and limitless emotions.

Here's the video's backstory, and some tantalizing thoughts on future projects (and technologies), in Björk's own words via Dazed:

BJÖRK: "dear folks

here comes the black lake video

a video me and andrew thomas huang did

i would like to thank him and james merry so strongly for going through with me the longest video process yet

especially to andrew for his talented elegant patience and to take my first visual impulses and weave into them his own magnificent vision :

im so honoured !!

it was a complex yet adventurous process to synchronize with so many departments

i would like to thank klaus biesenbach for commissioning the video

and ta to the haxan cloak , the speaker collaborators , the architect david benjamin , marco perry who all helped me make the most ideal sound room possible for that song

and then thank derek and emma birkett and tamsin . and iris and erna

and arca for producing the music with me

i guess its time for 'stonemilker' and 'black lake' to get out there into the world after a 3 month stint in a museum ..... ( after all the effort , stonemilker was like black lakes spontaneous baby sibling ha ha ha ) we tried to make it in a way it was both at home in an exhibition and also in the context of a no nonesense music video ( still my fav format) and i hope you dont mind the wait

and back to M U S I C ...

can i thank new york for a feisty 5 months , 8 lush gigs ?

most curious though about them next things

perhaps we dont even have the best tools yet

and technology might be where all the senses can merge even better ?

!!! here´s to some more VR vulnicura releases soon !!!

enthusiasm

björk"

Lead image: Still from "Black Lake" video, dir. Andrew Huang