Björk wrapped up her Cornucopia production on Tuesday, February 1st in Los Angeles, California at the Shrine Auditorium before heading to San Francisco. The night was filled with incredible displays of lights, sound, digital visual design, and an important message regarding the climate crisis.
Cornucopia made its world premiere at The She in 2019 and is now returning with limited dates in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The theatrical piece is based on Björk’s 2017 album Utopia, combined with intricate digital visual designs to create a unique production that fully emerges the audience into the experience.
The show began with a magnificent performance by the Los Angeles Tonality Choir, all choral artists dressed in white with gold eccentric masks that gave sort of a symbolism of technology and dystopian look. Soon after, the crowd cheered as they heard Björk’s voice though she was nowhere to be seen. The crowd was thrilled once again when the first layer of curtains was pulled away, leaving a sheer thin layer through which the crowd was able to see Björk’s figure. Guests were able to enjoy Björk’s stunning voice accompanied by bird call flutes and digital visuals projected onto the curtains. Finally, the final layer of curtains began to pull away inch by inch until Björk appeared in a costume that resembled dandelions.
The stage was full of green nature with performers in costumes that resemble flowers and a white dome at the corner of the stage in which Björk spent an entire song hidden from the audience only to have her face projected with a filter.
Throughout the show, Björk makes subtle remarks regarding Cornucopia’s central theme of the responsibility humanity faces for environmental action. The Icelandic singer stunned the audience with a shocking message that was projected on stage as it began with the words “this is a state of emergency” and continued to question what the future would look like and invited the crowd to confront the climate crisis.
As Björk runs backstage for a costume change, a short video of Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg plays in which she directly addresses the audience and calls for action on climate change. The crowd cheers and shouts words of agreement after every sentence in Thunberg’s short speech. As the video ends, Björk is revealed in a new outfit, white feathers sprout from her body.
Cornucopia, directed by Lucrecia Martel, Björk, and James Merry alongside the digital visual design by media artists Tobias Gremmler and stage designer Chiara Stephenson, fully emerges the audience in a unique experience that comes close to a lucid dream.
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