Bjork: Innovation and Inspiration
Bjork, Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, producer, DJ, actress and overall Creative Practitioner has shattered the divisions and broken boundaries within the Creative Industries with her productions and Creative Practice. Her career in the Creative Industries has spanned over four decades and is a constant source of inspiration and innovation to art, music and culture. This case study is analysing key characteristics and process used in Bjork’s creative practice, following on from Wiki entry Bjork: Innovation and Inspiration.
“The last 30 years in art history are in large part a story of collaborative enterprises, of collapsed boundaries between high art and low, and of the end of divisions between media. Few cultural figures have made the distinctions seem as meaningless as the Icelandic singer who combined trip-hop with 12-tone, and who brought the Avant Guard to MTV just before both those things disappeared. When even Rihanna is now photographed by the Dutch duo Inez & Vinnoodl wearing an Alexandra McQueen mask, who can doubt that Bjork, who made both the photographers’ and the late designer’s careers, is the master of today’s cultural terrain?”
(Farago, J. 2015.).
Following are the key concepts and definitions used during this case study;
Creative Practitioner: To be creative you have to be authentic, original and have a goal or purpose or an end result or product to their practice. “Creativity refers to anything someone does in a way that is original to the creator and that is appropriate to the purpose or goal of the creator” (Bear, J. & Kaufman, J, C. 2012.).
Collaboration: Is working in cooperation with someone else on a project or product.
Divergent Thinking: Also known as Idea Generation are methods of generating ideas and exploring possibilities using the imagination and multi directional thinking.
Convergent Thinking: Are thinking methods that involve sorting, refining and reflecting on the ideas made with divergent thinking to make directed decisions and choices using logic and rational to focus on the best method or project end result.
Bio-sociation: Fusing unusual combination of concepts, genres, places, textures and ideologies.
Her approach to the Idea Generation and Incubation stages of the Creative Process are started individually with the ideas and insights forming in her mind, using her immense imagination and methods of Divergent thinking. Like most Creative Practitioners Bjork uses a combination of convergent and divergent thinking, an example of this is shown in above footage of interview asking her if her creativity thrives more from chaos or discipline. She talks of different creative practices that may have more convergent thinking like arranging music, but uses divergent thinking in the idea generation and problem solving areas of a project. She does most of her creative work in her head first where she evaluates and refines the idea or concept using convergent thinking methods to brew these into a prototype or the pre-production and production phases of the project. In following You Tube clip she speaks about these first stages of her Creative process.
Bjork overcomes problems in these stages of the process by approaching her work dependent on her mood, whether she’s in a focused and motivated head space she prefers to work on technical process or research and when she’s in more of a wild and crazy mood she prefers to work on practical, imaginative creative processes like idea generation, incubation and song composition. She prefers to trust her creative instinct and work with its flow instead of against the grain. When asked by a fan in Reddit forum How do you overcome writers block, Bjork answered; “I def don’t succeed in this all the time but feel overall things have been more fertile when i trust this creatures instincts and follow it rather than me willfully reforming it into a circus animal colouring by numbers . anyways : as much as you’d like to ignore this animal u have to attend it . because if u don’t them dark times turn up” (Bjork. N.d.).
Bjork’s creative process has a way of challenging perceptions of creativity with her forward thinking approaches, musical fusions and compositional experimentation leading to futuristic media productions that have broken barriers within the different media disciplines. With the start of her solo career in 1993 with album release of Debut, then Post in 1995 and Homogenic in 1997 where she brought electronic to the mainstream with a fusion of electro and pop, inspiring artists to this day, shown in above film clip Big Time Sensually from the Debut Album. In 2001 with the Album release of Vespertine she married pop with Avant-guard and poetry, in a personal and vulnerable musical expression, once again an unheard of mix in contemporary music culture, yet was so innovating and inspiring that it has been her biggest selling release to date. She broke down cultural norms by performing the tour in theatres and opera houses, not a normal stage for a pop artist, though these were the best places for her concept to be fully understood and for the choir and orchestral sound. To compliment the release of Vespertine she also published a coffee table book of poetry and photos titled Bjork. In 2003 Bjork release album Medulla based as a mainly vocal album with collaborations with Inuit traditional singers, UK, American and Japanese beat box artists and even Mike Patton, once again producing something original, challenging the perceptions of creativity. With release of Biophilla in 2011 Bjork, shattered the barriers of multi-media production amalgamating music with technology and science with nature. The Biophilla album was release across multi-platform mediums with an educational program, Live concert film and was the first Album ever to be released as a phone app. Biophilla the app is also the first app to be a permanent exhibition at MOMA the New Yorks Gallery of Modern Art. The Film clip below shows some of the fusions of music and technology and science with nature.
In 2015 she brought 360 degree video into mainstream pop culture, with the release of music videos of songs Stonemilker and Mouth Mantra from album Vulnicura filmed in 360 degree and Virtual Reality, again a first for mainstream Creative Media Industries. Song Stonemilker from the Vulnicura album was also made into an immersive Virtual Reality app for iOS devices, featuring an exclusive strings mix of the song. The Stonemilker 360 degree music video can be seen below. Bjork later released the string only mix as an album titles Vulnicura Strings. She challenged our perceptions again in 2016 with Art Gallery tour of the Digital exhibition, a Virtual Reality exhibition showcasing her multi media videos based on Virtual Reality, while on this tour she made history by featuring in the first ever virtual reality live stream on You Tube . With her unique and quirky attitude and original, innovative style Bjork’s creative process of fusions, amalgamations and multi media productions redefines cultural and technological perceptions of creativity bringing the future of Creative Media to the present.
Bjorks general approach her creative practice work is started with the Idea Generation using divergent thinking then sculpts this into a prototype in her mind with convergent thinking, she may start the pre production and production to sketch out ideas and frameworks then calls in her distributed team of sound engineers, videographer, mastering engineer and distribution company,along with collaborators on the project to finalise the production and post production and distribution processes of creative practice. Her general approach to thinking of Creative Practice is much more unique as she thinks of creativity and treats it like a creature, as she explains in Reddit forum; “I think creativity always lives somewhere in everyone but its nature is quite pranksterish and slippery and every time u grab its tail its found a nu corner to thrive in . perhaps the trick is not to force it and put it up against a wall and want it to be in a particular area . but rather w a lot of kindness sniff it out and wonder where it has gone to this time around . if its in sauce recipes , writing theatre plays , paper-mache improv w nephews , discovering nu hiking routes or simply trying to figure out a family members sense of humour” (Bjork. N.d.).
The main strategies used in her creative practice are based a lot in Bio-sociation. This is seen in her fusions and amalgamations of unique genres, aural textures and concepts. Album Vespertine combined hushed vocals, a chamber orchestra and beats made from recording of household sounds. Medusa released in 2004 was a acoustic vocal album with a lot of digital and studio processing, based on collaboration with versatile and diverse performers. With the release of musical and technological innovation Biophillia in 2011, she pushed the boundaries of Bio-sociation with a fusion of music, science and nature, creating a multi-media, multi-platform production.
Collaboration is another one of Bjork’s Main strategies used in her practice. She has not only used collaboration as a form of inspiration in her creative practice she also uses collaboration as a strategy working with experts in other media disciplines like film, app developers and VR specialists to make the most original and unique multi-media product innovating and setting new benchmarks technologically, culturally and musically in the creative industries.
Bjork also uses the strategy of ‘Looking to the future’ in her practice, by being inspired to creating these multi-media, inter-dimensional, genre bending and world firsts in the creative industries. An example of these strategies are seen in below music film clip Army of Me, with her collaboration with Michel Gondry, they worked together on several music film clips.
One problem Bjork faced in her practice when it came to the Biophillia app and educational program for teenagers was academic value. As she was using the word educational, she approached a Professor for his essay additions and valuation to the production; “From my perspective as a musicologist, Biophilia is a fantastic opportunity to show that music-making can be spontaneous and that music theory can be understood intuitively — it doesn’t need to be dry or abstract” (Professor Dibben. 2013.). This was the first time Björk had to integrate academic research into her creative work and she overcome her issue with validation, making a cultural impact on audiences of her music. “Being part of this project has meant I can apply my knowledge of, and research into, how music communicates ideas about the relationship between humans, nature and technology, and bring them to a much broader audience” (Bjork. 2013.).
The creative practice of writing lyrics can be another problem Bjork faces as she explains; “Lyrics are tough for me. It’s sort of the opposite to making music. I write most of my songs in one or five minutes. They’re just like a spontaneous flow. The lyrics are like the opposite. I’ve said this before, but I think of them as signposts, explaining the music to people. Sort of like David Attenborough telling you about the animals” (Bjork. 2016.). But she overcomes this by only writing lyrics when she is in the mood for it, she is not into regimenting her practices but allow them to come when they want, much like a child or creature.
She also has problems with the multi-media productions as most of the technology is fresh in the Industry and she is using it in a new and original context with little to no research on the subject. She overcomes this by using the technologies as a tool, improvising along the way and problem solving through collaborating with professionals in certain field like 360 degree video. Her solution is Practice led research, documenting and establishing methods and procedures to these applications for the cultural and creative media industries.
Bjork is an inspiring and forward thinking Creative Practitioner with work and productions that are unique, original, authentic, and a source of innovation in Creative Industries, music and technology, redefining norms in creative industry practice. She challenges the creative industry expectations by representing the future of multi-media production and documenting an expression of post-contemporary culture.
References:
Bjork. (1 July, 2007.). Big time sensually [You tube music video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHuXpWSNa-8
Bjork. (4 February, 2010.). Army of me [You tube music video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KxtgS2lU94
Bjork. (6 October, 2011.). Bjork: full biophilia app suite [You tube video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dikvJM__zA4
Bjork. (6 June, 2015.). Stonemilker (360 degree virtual reality) [You tube music video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQEyezu7G20
Bjork. (10 December, 2016.). Iceland magazine-exclusive interview with Björk: The pain was a journey [Article].Retieved from http://icelandmag.visir.is/article/exclusive-interview-bjork-pain-was-a-journey
Bjork. (N.d.). Reddit forum: Bjork [Music forum]. Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/518ws9/ama_im_singer_and_songwriter_bjork_and_im_here_to/
Bjork & Professor Dibbin. (31 October, 2013.). University of shefield-research: Big time musicality: reinventing the album to create musical history [Article]. Retreived from https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/research/impact/stories/big-time-musicality-bjork-album-biophilia-1.658548
Farago, Jason. (March 5, 2015.). The guardian: bjork review-a strangely unambiguous hopscotch [Article]. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/04/bjork-moma-review-strangely-unambitious-hotchpotch
Lurcher, M. (May 4, 2002.). Björk — Interview on ARTE — Why Are You Creative? [You tube video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUKMIlsoevU&list=RDoUKMIlsoevU&index=1
Mondino, Jean-Baptiste. (1993.). Bjork [image]. Retrieved from http://www.bjork.fr/Jean-Baptiste-Mondino-Debut
Sky Arts. (3 July, 2014.). Björk on Writing Music [You tube video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNFktYapxWY&list=RDoUKMIlsoevU&index=6
Thompson, Louise. (19 June, 2017.). Wikipedia entry- Bjork: inspiration and innovation. Retrieved from https://campusonline.gscm.sae.edu/mod/wiki/view.php?pageid=14&group=0#toc-12
