While she's previously been more Biophilia than bibliophilia, Björk has announced a new coffee table book documenting her Cornucopia tour, which mixed virtual reality with 360-degree sound and animation.
With the artist sharing the news on social media this morning, the 480-page Cornucopia is set for release on November 15 and is currently available to pre-order. It was designed by M/M Paris and features 313 coloured imagines from the five-year run of concerts by photographer Santiago Felipe.
"Before this tour, I spent a decade working with 360-degree sound and visual software in virtual reality and animation, creating Biophilia, the first app album, and later Vulnicura as a VR album," Björk wrote. "I was deeply inspired by the idea of a fully-immersive experience, spending a spring in an Icelandic lighthouse, spreading Utopia into fully surround speakers. My intention was to bring what we had created for 21st-century VR into a 19th-century theatre — taking it from the headset to the stage."
She continued, "This vision was realized with 27 moving curtains that captured projections on different textures and LED screens, creating a digitally animated show: a modern lanterna magica for live music. I also wanted to feature bespoke instruments: a magnetic harp, an aluphone, a circular flute, and a reverb chamber, specially built with an audio architect to enhance the most intimate version of a performance — in a personal chapel. Throughout this tale, there is a subplot woven in: a second story of an avatar — a modern marionette who alchemically mutates, from puppet to puppet, from the injury of a heart wound to a fully healed state."
See the announcement below. Cornucopia follows Björk's 2001 coffee table book Björk (or Björk as a book), which coincided with the release of her fourth studio album, Vespertine.