echolalia - new exhibition premiering may 30th 2026

[judaschrist]

do they also sell a CD-version of the orkestral release or is this fake?

https://www.discogs.com/release/3767037 ... 3%B0-Choir

[jp4151]

do they also sell a CD-version of the orkestral release or is this fake?

https://www.discogs.com/release/3767037 ... 3%B0-Choir

No it's real

apparently they're not shrink wrapped. excited to get my copy in August

[judaschrist]

do they also sell a CD-version of the orkestral release or is this fake?

https://www.discogs.com/release/3767037 ... 3%B0-Choir

No it's real

apparently they're not shrink wrapped. excited to get my copy in August

thanks! hopefully the scalpers haven't bought up all of them until august...

[Erik]

I got my lp copy. Sounds lovely

[jp4151]

I got my lp copy. Sounds lovely

nice

is the vinyl shrink wrapped? the cd isn't

[dubstar]

I got my lp copy. Sounds lovely

nice

is the vinyl shrink wrapped? the cd isn't

Yes, the vinyl is shrink wrapped.

[u•ɹɥʇ•ɯ]

So the “nerve bloom” video uses Ai:

“Nerve Bloom” ... appears in the exhibition alongside AI-powered visuals created with painter Natalia Kleszczewska and computer programmer Natalie Liu. “We could have just pressed a button with AI and created it in one minute, but we decided not to do that,” she explains. “It took us eight months to do and every little scene was really worked on and bespoke, like moulding. Now, I’m not saying that the solution to everything about AI is to make sure you’ve spent eight months and then it’s OK! What I mean is that you have to put meaning into it. Overall, AI isn’t that good, you have to look at it and change it and move it to get something interesting.”

(source)

not surprised, given björk’s lifelong magpie-like approach to shiny new tech fads, but i Wonder if it was created using a “frugal” model like the pompidou thing or she just doesn’t give a shit at this point

[Anak]

If it took that long to do then they may very well have made a custom / purpose built model

[arucinluv]

this article mentions the paris exhibition will have 11 pieces?
https://www.timeout.fr/paris/actualites ... ris-062926

[epicurus]

this article mentions the paris exhibition will have 11 pieces?
https://www.timeout.fr/paris/actualites ... ris-062926

[felt.helmet]

It also says the pieces are all inspired by nature, especially water, wind and Iceland… is she indulging in a all exhibit album ? Makes me think of the initial idea of biophilia where each song was a room

[childwithlepro]

It also says the pieces are all inspired by nature, especially water, wind and Iceland… is she indulging in a all exhibit album ? Makes me think of the initial idea of biophilia where each song was a room

she's been flirting with this idea of a rooms and songs since , if i'm not mistaken.

[Anak]

It also says the pieces are all inspired by nature, especially water, wind and Iceland… is she indulging in a all exhibit album ? Makes me think of the initial idea of biophilia where each song was a room

she's been flirting with this idea of a rooms and songs since , if i'm not mistaken.

Yes, it was noted in Emily Mackay's 33 1/3 book (which is a brilliant read), shows how truly ahead of her time she was in that aspect

[Patrigan]

I went to the exhibit.
It was very good! I sobbed my eyes out with sorrowful soil, hearing each of the great singers isolated and each with their own pain hits differently!
I took a breather during the James merry mask exhib (smart move!) got completely broken by ancestress (which i literally only heard once in the last three years) and calmed down in nerve bloom (to which the video floating around brings no justice)
Weakend from all the crying I was very happy to make the museum shop a lot lighter afterwards with scoring the book, the orkestral vinyl and a shirt and since I am new to vinyl I also bought my favourite album vespertine there!

They also had a (very expansive) signed by bjork artprint from nerve bloom lying around.

It was worth every penny going there and I highly suggest anyone to do it

[epicurus]

Next stop: somewhere in the middle of nowhere in poland
https://jazzsoul.pl/2026/08/18/echolali ... festiwalu/

[u•ɹɥʇ•ɯ]

I will be attending, since I live only an hour away from what you consider “middle of nowhere” lmao

sort of surprised the exhibition was not picked up by unsound festival going on at the same time in warsaw and kraków (would seem a perfect fit to the lineup that includes björk-related artists like arca, mica levi, total freedom etc.) but good for bielsko-biała for snatching it, feels very punk to showcase it in a small town in the foothills instead

[jp4151]

checked out the exhibit in iceland last week. cool experience. nerve bloom is really cool to hear in person.

for those interested, i sat through all of bjork orkestral. It'a about 89 minutes in total, with each song separated by their respective score stories text. most interestingly, most songs come from the 2nd and 3rd live streams, with only 2 songs coming from the 1st livestream. nothing from the 4th. moreover, there were no songs for brass from show 3, meaning the iceland symphony only makes 2 brief appearances.

the mixes were new, most noticeable on the 2nd livestream where the brief edits to her vocals don't match the visuals (and the organ replaces the beginning of the electronics on mouth's cradle).

the video edit was the same, comparing the short vids i shot at the venue with the livestream video, though the text/graphics introducing each song are slightly different. the text is now in front of a black box, which sometimes blacks out Bjork's face. hard to guess if this will be released as a blu-ray in the future. hopefully not in this state. for example, losss fades out just before the flutes end on the track, and then sue me, which plays several songs later, fades in on those flutes before sue me proper starts. but since there are new mixes it would be great to have them commercially released.

still hoping for a proper live album from the tour so we can get freefall and the best performances (one of the japanese shows was nearly flawless...)

anyhow, here's the track list for those interested:

Courtship
unravel
cosmogony
the gate
generous palmstroke
mouth's cradle
new world
harm of will
tabula rasa
who is it
utopia
vertebrae by vertebrae
hidden place
pagan poetry
sonnets/unrealities xi
sun in my mouth
losss
pleasure is all mine
sue me
where is the line

[odduck]

Thank you for the details!

[Patrigan]

checked out the exhibit in iceland last week. cool experience. nerve bloom is really cool to hear in person.

for those interested, i sat through all of bjork orkestral. It'a about 89 minutes in total, with each song separated by their respective score stories text. most interestingly, most songs come from the 2nd and 3rd live streams, with only 2 songs coming from the 1st livestream. nothing from the 4th. moreover, there were no songs for brass from show 3, meaning the iceland symphony only makes 2 brief appearances.

the mixes were new, most noticeable on the 2nd livestream where the brief edits to her vocals don't match the visuals (and the organ replaces the beginning of the electronics on mouth's cradle).

the video edit was the same, comparing the short vids i shot at the venue with the livestream video, though the text/graphics introducing each song are slightly different. the text is now in front of a black box, which sometimes blacks out Bjork's face. hard to guess if this will be released as a blu-ray in the future. hopefully not in this state. for example, losss fades out just before the flutes end on the track, and then sue me, which plays several songs later, fades in on those flutes before sue me proper starts. but since there are new mixes it would be great to have them commercially released.

still hoping for a proper live album from the tour so we can get freefall and the best performances (one of the japanese shows was nearly flawless...)

anyhow, here's the track list for those interested:

Courtship
unravel
cosmogony
the gate
generous palmstroke
mouth's cradle
new world
harm of will
tabula rasa
who is it
utopia
vertebrae by vertebrae
hidden place
pagan poetry
sonnets/unrealities xi
sun in my mouth
losss
pleasure is all mine
sue me
where is the line

Hold on! they played it at the gallery? Thats new then! That wasn’t there when I went

[jp4151]

checked out the exhibit in iceland last week. cool experience. nerve bloom is really cool to hear in person.

for those interested, i sat through all of bjork orkestral. It'a about 89 minutes in total, with each song separated by their respective score stories text. most interestingly, most songs come from the 2nd and 3rd live streams, with only 2 songs coming from the 1st livestream. nothing from the 4th. moreover, there were no songs for brass from show 3, meaning the iceland symphony only makes 2 brief appearances.

the mixes were new, most noticeable on the 2nd livestream where the brief edits to her vocals don't match the visuals (and the organ replaces the beginning of the electronics on mouth's cradle).

the video edit was the same, comparing the short vids i shot at the venue with the livestream video, though the text/graphics introducing each song are slightly different. the text is now in front of a black box, which sometimes blacks out Bjork's face. hard to guess if this will be released as a blu-ray in the future. hopefully not in this state. for example, losss fades out just before the flutes end on the track, and then sue me, which plays several songs later, fades in on those flutes before sue me proper starts. but since there are new mixes it would be great to have them commercially released.

still hoping for a proper live album from the tour so we can get freefall and the best performances (one of the japanese shows was nearly flawless...)

anyhow, here's the track list for those interested:

Courtship
unravel
cosmogony
the gate
generous palmstroke
mouth's cradle
new world
harm of will
tabula rasa
who is it
utopia
vertebrae by vertebrae
hidden place
pagan poetry
sonnets/unrealities xi
sun in my mouth
losss
pleasure is all mine
sue me
where is the line

Hold on! they played it at the gallery? Thats new then! That wasn’t there when I went

orkestral's been there since it opened. it's in all the promotional shots/press/etc

it was half hidden as you enter the ancestress video room. kinda easy to miss and the staff weren't even sure how long the program lasted.

[Patrigan]

Oh wow I totally missed that! I was all in Tears

[u•ɹɥʇ•ɯ]

Some information about the Polish stop of the exhibition at the Wandering Festival in Bielsko-Biała, translated from an interview with Krystian Lada, the organizer:

13 years ago, when I was working at the La Monnaie opera in Brussels as Director of Dramaturgy, we created a big opera based on her album Medúlla. Two years ago, we collaborated on the project Abendzauber for Ruhrtriennale, in which I combined Björk’s songs, arranged for choir, with Bruckner’s music. We have been in touch. When I contacted her to ask about her future plans, I heard she was working on Echolalia – an album taking the form of audio-visual installations that she wants to take to different cities around the world. I was told, “It’s going to be interdisciplinary, wandering and about humans’ connection to nature.” So the project seems to mirror the curatorial framework of our festival! It turned out Björk’s only available time to show this exhibition here was October, which is when our festival takes place anyway [laughs]. As you can see, this was meant to happen.

Björk’s audio-visual installations will be exhibited in various spaces across the city.

The premiere took place in a Reykjavik museum, but Björk herself said the idea is based on movement, so she liked my idea of doing it in a way that invites visitors to wander. In Bielsko-Biała, we were looking for three completely different locations. We found a floor in a pavilion of a department store, a deserted tenement house in the city centre, and Theodor Sixt’s mansion, which used to be the house of the philanthropist and industrialist but nowadays hosts the Art Exhibitions Bureau.

I was surprised by how personal the exhibition is. Björk is working through the death of her mother in these creations – two installations refer to this specifically. The third one is “Nerve Bloom”. Björk created it in collaboration with Polish artist Natalia Kleszczewska, a painter living between Katowice and Kraków, so the festival’s theme of wandering between international and local artists is reflected in this as well. In her paintings, Natalia focuses on the emotional and biological aspects of entering into relationships with other people. Every person we meet influences not only our feelings but also the biology and chemistry of our bodies – and Natalia portrays this in a poetic, metaphorical way in her paintings.

Did you put the two artists in touch?

You won’t believe it, but they were introduced to each other via Instagram. That’s where Björk found Natalia’s work, and she simply wrote to her. I am happy Björk’s exhibition is not coming to Warsaw but to Bielsko-Biała. This a-centric perspective has something eccentric about it, which I find interesting. Especially since, thanks to funding from the National Cultural Centre, the exhibition will be free to visitors during the festival weekend and throughout October.

(source: https://mintmagazine.pl/artykuly/wedruj ... ic-kultury)

We now know the album won’t be called Echolalia but the part in red sort of echoes some earlier rumour that more songs will be added at future stops?

[epicurus]

Next stop from 13 november: oulu, finland
https://oulu2026.eu/en/lumo-art-tech-fe ... ing-bjork/

[arucinluv]

Next stop from 13 november: oulu, finland
https://oulu2026.eu/en/lumo-art-tech-fe ... ing-bjork/

no nerve bloom ?

[u•ɹɥʇ•ɯ]

Yeah, it seems so. From björk’s Instagram:

Björk: Ancestress, Sorrowful Soil & Nerve Bloom (remix), with Natalia Kleszczewska @nienataliann in Bielsko-Biała @wedrujacyfestiwal, opening 02.10.2026

Björk: Ancestress, Sorrowful Soil & Björk Orkestral in Oulu @oulu2026official, opening 13.11.2026

[meisbaer]

That is the video recording of the performance livestreamed during Corona, right?

[Erik]

I really enjoyed the exhibit. Each room felt very different. Ancestress was very dark (you could barely see the masks in the room) while sorrowful soil had open windows and white walls. The knit scores for the songs were so beautiful. It was fantastic hearing the songs blasting in 360. Nerve bloom was a treat, and seeing all of James’ work was surreal after only seeing photos for many years.

[u•ɹɥʇ•ɯ]

i went to the opening of the exhibition in bielsko-biała today.

the pieces are displayed in three separate locations in the city (all within walking distance from each other and from the train station) – “sorrowful soil” found its home on the second floor of a deserted pavilion of a communist-era społem department store; “ancestress” is hosted in an old, slightly run-down tenement building in the city centre where apparently hotel imperial used to be pre-ww2; finally the “nerve bloom” remix lives in the nineteenth-century mansion of austrian industrialist and philanthropist theodor sixt, which now hosts the bielsko-biała bureau of art exhibitions.

the evening started at the town square, though, where the festival organizers introducing the project repeated the claim that at future stops more songs will be added to the exhibition. anyway, the crowd was your typical mix of cool art school kids that made me feel and look like an ancient accountant in comparison, a few older local artists and art-adjacent professionals who attend every single gallery opening in the 100 km radius (we call them here “vernissage pigeons” lol), families with kids, and of course a gaggle of faithful gays supporting whatever möther’s next project is. after an a capella performance by some norwegian (?) artist (i was a bit late so i have no context for this lol) three musical processions formed, each led by a different group of local musicians and marching towards a different venue. a children highlander folk ensemble with fiddles and bells lead people to “sorrowful soil”, bagpipe players showed the way to “ancestress”, and a brass marching band ushered the crowd towards “nerve bloom”. attendees were free to choose which one to follow so i randomly followed the first one and walked through the town to the społem pavilion.

“sorrowful soil” was cool to experience in fully surround sound – each of the speakers really just plays a single voice so you can stand very close to one (they are at an adult’s head level) and hear only, say, the tenor or the soprano, or stand in the middle and hear the full mix, or just wander around and enjoy the voices swirling around you like a shoal of fish. other than that it was just the video and the score on a black shroud, but the element of sonic interactivity was nice.

then i walked over to the tenement house with the “ancestress” room, which was probably the most underwhelming of the three – i mean, i love the song and the visuals, but it was basically just the four-year-old music video projected on a big screen with the score printed on red curtains. and the sound glitched at one point! i wish there were some of james merry props on display, i would have really loved to see them up close, but i guess they stayed in iceland.

final stop was sixt’s mansion and “nerve bloom”, which felt the most polished of the three installations – like a proper museum piece. the video was great and i loved how parts of it were projected on glass rectangles in front of the main screen, creating layers and giving an immersive effect. natalia kleszczewska’s oil paintings and some conceptual drawings she made specifically for the project were also on display in three other rooms. she was there as well and i talked with her for a moment, she seemed lovely. there was also another exhibition of local visual artists in the basement of the mansion, serving as an “underbelly” for “nerve bloom”, related to its themes of relationships and merging with another human being.

weirdly, the name of the exhibition was initially advertised as echolalia but since the announcement it has been changed in all festival materials to the more descriptive björk: ancestress, sorrowful soil & nerve bloom (remix), with any mention of echolalia totally erased from posters, flyers etc.

unfortunately there was no björk merch or exhibition catalogue to buy – not that i need another overpriced t-shirt in my closet but was hoping for a keepsake. the exhibition is free btw, you just need to download a free pass from the festival’s website, and i recommend going even just to see “nerve bloom” and natalia’s painting exhibition – i know a remote town in polish mountains is not the most accessible location lol, but if you are from czechia, slovakia, or even vienna it’s close enough for a fun daytrip.

[digitalsky]

i went to the opening of the exhibition in bielsko-biała today.

the pieces are displayed in three separate locations in the city (all within walking distance from each other and from the train station) – “sorrowful soil” found its home on the second floor of a deserted pavilion of a communist-era społem department store; “ancestress” is hosted in an old, slightly run-down tenement building in the city centre where apparently hotel imperial used to be pre-ww2; finally the “nerve bloom” remix lives in the nineteenth-century mansion of austrian industrialist and philanthropist theodor sixt, which now hosts the bielsko-biała bureau of art exhibitions.

the evening started at the town square, though, where the festival organizers introducing the project repeated the claim that at future stops more songs will be added to the exhibition. anyway, the crowd was your typical mix of cool art school kids that made me feel and look like an ancient accountant in comparison, a few older local artists and art-adjacent professionals who attend every single gallery opening in the 100 km radius (we call them here “vernissage pigeons” lol), families with kids, and of course a gaggle of faithful gays supporting whatever möther’s next project is. after an a capella performance by some norwegian (?) artist (i was a bit late so i have no context for this lol) three musical processions formed, each led by a different group of local musicians and marching towards a different venue. a children highlander folk ensemble with fiddles and bells lead people to “sorrowful soil”, bagpipe players showed the way to “ancestress”, and a brass marching band ushered the crowd towards “nerve bloom”. attendees were free to choose which one to follow so i randomly followed the first one and walked through the town to the społem pavilion.

“sorrowful soil” was cool to experience in fully surround sound – each of the speakers really just plays a single voice so you can stand very close to one (they are at an adult’s head level) and hear only, say, the tenor or the soprano, or stand in the middle and hear the full mix, or just wander around and enjoy the voices swirling around you like a shoal of fish. other than that it was just the video and the score on a black shroud, but the element of sonic interactivity was nice.

then i walked over to the tenement house with the “ancestress” room, which was probably the most underwhelming of the three – i mean, i love the song and the visuals, but it was basically just the four-year-old music video projected on a big screen with the score printed on red curtains. and the sound glitched at one point! i wish there were some of james merry props on display, i would have really loved to see them up close, but i guess they stayed in iceland.

final stop was sixt’s mansion and “nerve bloom”, which felt the most polished of the three installations – like a proper museum piece. the video was great and i loved how parts of it were projected on glass rectangles in front of the main screen, creating layers and giving an immersive effect. natalia kleszczewska’s oil paintings and some conceptual drawings she made specifically for the project were also on display in three other rooms. she was there as well and i talked with her for a moment, she seemed lovely. there was also another exhibition of local visual artists in the basement of the mansion, serving as an “underbelly” for “nerve bloom”, related to its themes of relationships and merging with another human being.

weirdly, the name of the exhibition was initially advertised as echolalia but since the announcement it has been changed in all festival materials to the more descriptive björk: ancestress, sorrowful soil & nerve bloom (remix), with any mention of echolalia totally erased from posters, flyers etc.

unfortunately there was no björk merch or exhibition catalogue to buy – not that i need another overpriced t-shirt in my closet but was hoping for a keepsake. the exhibition is free btw, you just need to download a free pass from the festival’s website, and i recommend going even just to see “nerve bloom” and natalia’s painting exhibition – i know a remote town in polish mountains is not the most accessible location lol, but if you are from czechia, slovakia, or even vienna it’s close enough for a fun daytrip.

thank you for this.

[odduck]

“sorrowful soil” was cool to experience in fully surround sound – each of the speakers really just plays a single voice so you can stand very close to one (they are at an adult’s head level) and hear only, say, the tenor or the soprano, or stand in the middle and hear the full mix, or just wander around and enjoy the voices swirling around you like a shoal of fish. other than that it was just the video and the score on a black shroud, but the element of sonic interactivity was nice.

That sounds amazing

thank you for the great review

[u•ɹɥʇ•ɯ]

BTW in each location there were also detailed song and video credits displayed on the walls, song lyrics both in English and Polish, as well as curatorial notes – handwritten by Björk in English alongside Polish translations (sorry for the angle on “Sorrowful Soil” but it was high up in a staircase)

I also learned that the painting that drew Björk to Natalia Kleszczewska’s work and that was the origin of their worldbuilding for the video was “Black Beauty”, which I had coincidentally seen two years ago while on a date in a gallery in Katowice lol

(some more random pics)

[u•ɹɥʇ•ɯ]

A surprise appearance at the wandering festival’s Rave na Targowisku party today in Bielsko-Biała:

[arucinluv]

she’s wearing mugler literally off the runway

and they played an “öll birtan” remix on the runway

[mostico]

she’s wearing mugler literally off the runway

and they played an “öll birtan” remix on the runway

i totally see a bigger collaboration coming.