Björk transcends shape and form in the stunning new video for “Tabula Rasa,” a track off her 2017 album Utopia. The clip was directed by digital artist Tobias Gremmler, who places Björk’s face onto a shape-shifting figure that sprouts petals and fronds as it twists and billows through the air. It’s an uncanny and arresting sight, but beautiful as well, especially when the theme of metamorphosis is paired with Björk’s lyrics, “Clean plate, tabula rasa for my children/Clean plate, not repeating the fuck-ups of the fathers.”
The “Tabula Rasa” video arrives after Björk premiered a new multi-media concert piece, Cornucopia, at the Shed in New York City (the Utopia track closed the set list). Reviewing the show for Rolling Stone, Will Hermes wrote, “For all the beauty on display, the production is gloriously angry the way Björk can be at her best, embodying a sort of punk-rock Valkyrian fury. And it’s telling that the show’s takeaway, and final word, comes not from Björk, but from 16-year-old Swedish climate-change activist Greta Thunberg, speaking in an unprocessed video message against a backdrop of silence.”
Björk’s Cornucopia will continue to run through June 1st. Tickets for some shows are still available via the Shed’s website.