Björk’s ‘Vulnicura VR Remastered’ showcases VR as an artistic medium : NPR
An advertising for Björk VULNICURA VR remasteredThe last iteration of a VR project that the Icelandic pop artist started working almost a decade ago.
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Pulsejet studios
2015 Björk album Vulnicura Tells the story of the emotional journey of the Icelandic pop artist after a painful break with his partner then Long, the American artist Matthew Barney.
“I realized that I wrote a whole album Heartbreak,” said Björk in an exclusive interview with NPR. “And it’s like a little delicate genre to exploit.”
Björk said the VR seemed to be the ideal medium beyond the album to share its sorrow at the time. “What most people complained about VR is that it was very insulating,” said Björk. “And I said to myself:” WOW. Perfect. It will be good in this lonely and lonely journey. “”
A newly remastered version of Vulnicura VR Available on the Apple Vision Pro helmet (and soon Meta Quest; the release date is still pending) allows fans to live this trip alongside Björk.
When the album opens, the user finds himself navigating in an ASLAISAIS Austere landscape of imposing mountains, lead sky and meticulously detailed foam. At one point, Björk dissolves in a shower of small particles. To another, the user can reach out and grab long wires to assemble the broken heart of Björk.
In the song “Family”, users of the VR experience can remove their hands in rhythm with the music to sew the broken heart of Björk together.
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Pulsejet studios
Created by the VR music company based in San Francisco Pulsejet Studios, the new version updates a project that the artist created for the first time a decade ago, at the time when technology was in a very different place.
When Björk published games for the first time Vulnicura VRConsumer VR was the new hot thing. HTC and Oculus went out with revolutionary helmets. Online application stores have praised new immersive video content. The filmmakers drew attention to advanced films that exploit intimacy and immersive properties of the medium, such as Matthew Cooke Cooke ConfinementAbout solitary isolation in American prisons.
But the technology was limited, and the many artists working on the ambitious Björk project had to face these front limits – even if the work was in many ways revolutionary. “Björk really took advantage of the medium intimacy,” said the filmmaker based in Los Angeles Andrew Thomas Huang, who was involved with Vulnicura VR Since his early days. “But it was very DIY.”
The original project was designed in an iterative way in the context of Digital BjörkAn exhibition on Björk’s career which took place from 2016 to 2010 in various world museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Miraikan in Tokyo. Huang said Björk had collaborated with a group of different artists and matched technologies on the creation of immersive video versions of some of the Vulnicura The album songs for these facilities. As such, the initial versions of Vulnicura VR could only be seen by visitors to the museum. They had to be attached to computers and place heavy controls in their hands. “It was very clumsy,” said Huang. “And sometimes computers did not work.”
An image of Björk’s career retrospective at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 2015.
Timothy A. Cleary / AFP / Getty images
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Timothy A. Cleary / AFP / Getty images
In 2019, Björk published a version of Vulnicura VR For headsets accessible to steam. This widened the public for work. But he had some of the same limits as the museum versions, such as the need for computers and manual controls. “We have seen a great opportunity to improve graphics and navigation with new technologies and new all-in-one helmets,” said Pulsejet Studios, John Gearty. “The 2019 version is still working, but it is much easier to get around.”
With the newly remastered iteration for the “all-in-one” helmet, users can wander freely and use their bare hands to explore the world of Björk. The navigation between the songs is more intuitive and the visual, sharper effects. Spatial audio has also been improved. “We have carefully developed foam and rocks and flowers,” said Gearty, to work on the new version.
The founder of Pulsejet Studios, John Gearty, wears an Apple Vision Pro helmet while setting up a Björk demo VULNICURA VR remastered At the office of his company in San Francisco.
Chloé Veltman / NPR
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Chloé Veltman / NPR
Gearty said he hoped that more musicians will take the example of Björk and will explore VR’s artistic potential beyond the immersive concert experiences offered in recent times by artists like Sabrina Carpenter and groups such as Metallica.
“It’s not just television,” said Gearty. “We are quite determined to think about all the experience differently and surrounding the user of an artistic vision that you cannot see every day.”
The Björk project arrives in its remastered version at a inflection point for the VR industry. A recent report by the Market Intelligence Company International Data Corporation (IDC) provides for an annual growth rate made up of almost 40% between this year and 2029. At the same time, more than half of the game developers who participated in a recent survey concerning the VR said that the industry stagnated.
“I continue to believe that the VR has enormous creative potential, in particular with regard to live performance,” said Charlie Fink, producer, podcaster, author and speaker of Chapman University in immersive technological space. “That said, virtual reality did not reach the commercial success that everyone thought it was possible ten years ago.”
For her part, Björk said she wanted to see where artists take the medium in the future, and it is delighted that the new version of Vulnicura VR can now reach many more people. “I have always loved the feeling of democracy about music,” she said.
