Björk on nature and technology (2016)

labrador

Björk and Laurie Anderson are my two favorite artists who have a feel of both nature and technology in harmony, but there's an artist who preceeds both that captures the feeling best for me: Richard Brautigan in the 60's

    All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace

    I like to think (and
    the sooner the better!)
    of a cybernetic meadow
    where mammals and computers
    live together in mutually
    programming harmony
    like pure water
    touching clear sky.

    I like to think
    (right now, please!)
    of a cybernetic forest
    filled with pines and electronics
    where deer stroll peacefully
    past computers
    as if they were flowers
    with spinning blossoms.

    I like to think
    (it has to be!)
    of a cybernetic ecology
    where we are free of our labors
    and joined back to nature,
    returned to our mammal
    brothers and sisters,
    and all watched over
    by machines of loving grace.

    https://allpoetry.com/All-Watched-Over-By-Machines-Of-Loving-Grace

ics

I was introduced to Richard Brautigan by a chance encounter with The Tokyo-Montana Express from the used book shelf, highly recommend it as well.

Rygian

Could the title be perhaps the inspiration for the "Self Models of Loving Grace" presentation by Joscha Bach in last year's CCC?

https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-self-models-of-loving-grace

labrador

Good find. That's really interesting. I would guess the titles are related.

I want to also mention that with "Bachlorette" Björk seems to anticipate Large Language Models and wrote a cautionary tale about them:

“One day I found a big book buried deep in the ground. I opened it, but all the pages were blank. Then, to my surprise, it started writing itself: 'One day, I found a big book buried deep in the ground…’”

björk : bachelorette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNJv-Ebi67I

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ascorbic

Ah, an excuse to share Björk's legendary video about how TVs work! You shouldn't let poets lie to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75WFTHpOw8Y

realo

"... Millions of little screens that send light on you..."

How poetic!

pier25

for a moment it seems like she's talking about TikTok

proee

Bjork talking about her torn-apart CRT TV is one of my favorite videos.

https://youtu.be/75WFTHpOw8Y?si=FnWcYEtpdhsziJ11

thr0waway001

The whole time I was thinking: ‘don’t touch Mr. Capacitor.’

psadri

Nature _is_ technology. It’s far too advanced for us to understand. And perhaps due to not-invented-here syndrome, we tend to try and recreate it (crudely).

pier25

We're part of nature too. Is the technology we produce also part of nature?

TeMPOraL

It is, but it's a somewhat different point. Or perhaps the same one, taken from the other end.

I tend to phrase GP's point as: life is nothing but molecular nanotech that we didn't design ourselves, and don't fully understand yet.

dfxm12

The mentioned Stonemilker video was one of the few things to really grab my attention with the Google Daydream VR when it got for free with whatever Pixel it was that came with it.

At the time, she said of the 360 VR technology that it was a challenge and "it’s still being discovered, but people don’t know what it is."

Daydream VR would be discontinued 4 years later...

https://youtu.be/gQEyezu7G20?si=Tu7DirCjq8psKI8x

Ambroos

This might be a good time to remind you that her Vulnicura VR album (that the video you linked to is from) has just been remastered and rereleased. Available on Quest 3 (https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/9760145800676411/) and Vision Pro (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bj%C3%B6rk-vulnicura-vr-remast...). It's one of my favourite ever albums and I really need to find a friend with a Quest 3/Vision Pro, I have never gotten to experience the VR videos.

lupusreal

Love Björk. She always has very refreshing takes.

ge96

Aurora Aksnes interesting too

thr0waway001

Kristen Wiig does a killer Björk impression.

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HN

Björk on nature and technology (2016)

Björk on nature and technology (2016)