In conjunction with the recent UN Climate Change Conference, Björk and French artist Alif have designed a new sound installation that recreates the sounds of extinct animals. The installation will be presented in Paris as part of the forum “Biodiversity: What culture, for what future?”
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Icelandic treasure Björk and French artist Aleph have collaborated on an immersive audio track that recreates the sounds of extinct animals.
The new immersive audio installation, titled “Natural Manifesto,” is scheduled to be on display at the Center Pompidou in Paris from November 20 to December 9, as part of “Biodiversity: Which Culture for Which Future?” Forum.
It will consist of a 3-minute and 40-second piece that uses artificial intelligence software to recreate the sound of extinct animals and combine it with spoken word singing.
This piece was supported by the IRCAM Acoustic Research Institute, and curated by Chloe Sejanus and Delphine Le Gat – as well as ecologists from both France and Iceland.
“We wanted to participate,” Björk and Alif wrote in the statement [the animals’] Being in architecture representing the industrial age, far from nature. In the veins of the museum’s escalator, known as “The Caterpillar,” we wanted to remind citizens of the raw vitality of endangered creatures. Even though you are anxiously moving between floors while listening to this audio track, we hope that the tone of the animal sounds will build a sonic bridge towards the listeners.
The statement added: “With the spirit of these animals, and the magic of how they sensually fit into their environment, they become our teachers!”
IRCAM’s own description notes that “the work combines Björk’s voice, reading her manifesto, with the cries of extinct and endangered animals, harmonized with the landscape.”
Björk has repeatedly highlighted environmental causes. In 2008, she released the song “Náttúra” with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke to promote Icelandic environmental protection. She did something similar in a duet last year with Rosalía called “Oral.”
She also recently announced the climate change-themed Cornucopia concert film for Climate Week, and will release a 480-page book documenting her five-year “Cornucopia” tour on November 15.
