Björk’s “Nature Manifesto” Merges Nature With Tech

The Icelandic Queen of innovative pop Björk takes us on a journey to hear endangered and extinct animals in a sound installation she calls “Nature Manifesto.”

Together with techno-activist Aleph and the acclaimed Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique (ICRAM), using AI software, Björk brings us an immersive sonic experience, giving endangered and extinct animals a voice by interweaving their sounds with our words. The sound installation called “Nature Manifesto” is part of the forum “Biodiversity: Which Culture for Which Future?” and aims to raise awareness for the collapse of biodiversity and its consequences.

Hosted by the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Björk purposely chose this location, which is a symbol of industrialization and far away from nature, trying to bridge our industrial present with the biodiverse past. The installation takes place at the Centre Pompidou’s iconic “Chenille,” or “Caterpillar” escalators. Over the course of the 3 min and 40 sec escalator ride, we can experience the calls of the animals we have lost and the ones we stand to lose, reminding us of the raw vitality of these wonderful creatures. In harmony with these calls, we can hear Björk’s and Aleph’s Nature Manifesto.

See the trailer to “Nature Manifesto” below

Ever the innovator, Björk combines technology with nature. Nature Manifesto poses important questions of ethics and sustainability, beyond the ones concerning the state of nature’s biodiversity. Her boldest move arguably being the use of generative AI, in this project of hers. Nature Manifesto being a project that raises awareness for environmental issues asks the question if technologies which have a negative impact on the environment can still be used to its benefit. Does the message it carries and the resulting benefits for nature outweigh the initial negative impact AI has on it? Furthermore it challenges the ethical concerns when it comes to the use of AI for artistic purposes, as it has been disrupting the creative industry of late. Should artists make use of generative AI, or rather support fellow human artists? In which cases does the deliberate use of AI carry a statement that is beneficial to the respective art project? With Nature Manifesto, Björk once again proves her title of Queen of innovative pop, always being on the bleeding edge of innovation and experimentation in her craft.

Björk does not believe in the end of humanity and the idea of a post-apocalyptic future. Instead she advocates post-optimism for a world where humans and plants intertwine and evolve together. In collaboration with young environmentalists in France and Iceland, Björk has set up a campaign which she says is going to launch soon.

Read the full Nature Manifesto by Björk and Aleph below

“it is an emergency

the apocalypse has already happened

and how we will act now is essential

after the mass extinction
we will start anew
our old comfort is gone
we will parade with mutated crickets in glowing radio-active harvests

migrate with wildebeests
amongst endangered orangutans

a new world
with an emergence of assemblages

and rhizomatic entanglements

with the altered voice of a beluga
and a dna-morphed seal
we will settle in sound fields of mosquitoes

we will find sensory reci-procity
in all ecological connective tissues
in a pioneering sound-strata
of mutant peacocks, bees, and lemurs

biology will reassemble in new ways
and micro-organisms will mate with other life-forms to heal and adapt

in fruiting bodies
and fields of sensory information
the web of life will unfold into a world of new solutions
as basalt columns absorb carbon
or as a lyrebird becomes a chainsaw

life wins

with or without us

after plagues and pandemics
there will be new modes of existence
of weaving our bodies into relations with our surroundings

of decomposing our old ways of life
and escape the feedback loop

with metabolic ingenuity

the howl of our biological ancestry

repossessed by animal spirits

we remedy lost bird calls
out of niche-replacements

amongst a tapestry of beings

a new bio-diversity is reached

we will terraform the planet

in a deep morpho-genesis

from an animist volcanic island
we will revel at doppler-effect dolphins speeding by

unseen wonders blooming
hyphean enigmatic entities

the memory of our genes

will form a call to action

mold a new paris climate accord

this time reachable

reach

let’s reach it”