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List Price: $35.00 | | Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Salesrank: 350408
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| Our Price: $50.00 |
| Used Price: $6.95 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
An intimate look at one of the most creative artists at work today.
When it comes to making music, Björk needs no introduction. She has always been at the vanguard, exploding convention and leading her listeners down the uncharted paths of a haunting and harmonic trip through sound. Last year, she starred in Lars von Trier's acclaimed Dancer in the Dark, and took home the coveted Best Actress award at Cannes. A true artist whose work has consistently transcended creative and geographic borders, Björk turns every medium she touches to gold.
Her next project is a gorgeously produced, stunningly beautiful collection of photographs and text that is being published simultaneously around the world. Designed by Björk and m/m, the celebrated Paris design firm that has already collaborated Balenciaga, Visionaire, and Yohji Yamamoto, the book boasts contributions from the world's top photographers, fashion designers and video makers as well as original writing and artwork by Björk herself.
A breathtaking photographic odyssey through Björk's career, a stunning visual and literary companion to one of the most original performers of our time, Björk promises to be like no book you've ever seen. Coinciding with the release of her new album, Vespertine, and the supporting tour, this book is a must-have for Björk's admirers as well as anyone craving a touch of beauty for their bookshelf.
Bjork Reviews:
A worthy experiment from the most unique celebrity I know of. 
2005-07-12 - Björk is as unique as a person can be, yet still be famous. She is like pure imagination, with barely any reality. I'm exagerating, of course, but she is an ultimately original creature with seemingly endless curiosty in everything.
She has a noble idea behind this book. Many celebrities aline themselves with other famous people in their collaborations. That's 'the thing done'. But Björk has seen past that, and realized that collaborating with like-minded individuals makes alot more sense. Even so, her abilty to organize her ideas is a work in progress. As, this book is quite messy and confusing.
The back cover (shown here at amazon.com to represent the item) is absolutely beautiful. It is one of my favourite pictures of her, if not my outright favourite. The glossy finish is perfect. Unfortunately, the inside photography didn't follow suit with the glossy treatment. The photos were given a grainy look, which is more suitable to photographs of antiquity, not futurism. And the graininess doesn't bring out a person's features in portraits as well as a smooth finish does. I did buy this book believing that the inside photography would also be glossy, and still am sure it'd have been alot better had it been. (subjectivity allowing).
NOTE: Amazon.com's representation of the other photos inside the book suggest they're similarly glossy, but they're not.
Björk is amazingly creative, but lacks organizational skills. (Evident in the fact that she does require many collaborators even in the music studio). In this book, it's difficult to know when a submitted piece of work is by Björk, or by one of her friends. I often can't tell what a text is about, even. Are they talking about her? Is this text by her? Or is it random writing?
One problem consistent throughout all of Björk's projects, is they never reveal enough about her. I know much is revealed through her music and her photos, but rarely is there enough content straight from the horses mouth in interviews. I want to know her philosophies, her upbringing, and some life situations. I don't expect her to reveal anything too personal, but I'm always disappointed at how little I find out about her after buying a product of hers. I've heard her suggest that people wouldn't be interested in hearing about her outside of her art, which is for me a mistaken belief. (I'd love to know more about you as a person outside of your art, Björk). And this book continues the frustration for me, which began with the DVD collection I bought. There is a book about Björk by Ian Gittins. It is not a good book, in reality. For a start, it is hell bent on insulting a member of the Sugarcubes, which is poor form, even if you dislike a person. But, it certainly provided more quotes from Björk than this one did. I learnt quite a bit from that book. But this book here is, of course, a much better keepsake.
There is an interview 'by' Björk of David Attenborough (the nature documentary narrator and host). These two make a seemingly unlikely match, but infact are totally kindred when it comes to the natural world. They have a great respect and curiosity for nature. Unfortunately, it seemed that they may have had busy schedules and just squeezed this interview attempt in between engagements. I'd love to see a second attempt at this, where they start a recorder, and simply just talk for a couple hours. They are very insightful and refreshingly curious about the world.
I'm personally not fond of the artworks by Björk's friends, but I appreciate the idea. This kind of experiment is what got her where she is. She doesn't rest on regulation procedure. But overall, this book didn't work for me. No context is given to the works by her friends, so it's hard to appreciate where they are coming from, (if indeed one knows who a page of work is even by). Oftentimes, context makes the difference between enjoying a piece of art, and not.
In all, you get to know Björk through her art, and her sharing of her friends' art, but there still isn't enough material here that 'directly' reveals her to us. I respect the thought put into this book, but as with all original people, sometimes it's hard to know exactly what they set out to accomplish. But if you don't mind the obscurity, you will, as a fan, like this book anyway. Even though this book didn't strike a chord with me, the artist herself has, and I fully respect the attitude behind this project.
Great Artistic Direction 
2005-03-08 - I'm an art student in college and would like to think that I am very dedicated to the work I do. Over Christmas I was preparing myself for a college interview in February and was told that the college likes to see my personality reflected through my interests. First thing that popped to mind? Björk. No one else quite moves me or holds my attention like this little genius, and the thought of doing sketchpad work on her 'art' brought a smile across my face, I can tell you! Okay, it might sound a bit self-indulgent, but I think I can afford to be in the case of Björk.
So over Christmas I produced sketchpad work on her 'art.' I was interested in exploring the way she communicates with her audience, and how she does this through music, video and fashion. Everything in her career is methodically thought out by herself. She isn't controlled by her record company, because you can't control people like her. Everything from remixes, photoshoots and videos are well-thought out to create elaborate works of art, so my aim was to research and analyse this, before somehow using it to make my own piece of art, using her level of artistic intelligence, based on this. That's where this book came in useful!
I ordered this book over Christmas and was delighted with it, because it has many things in it that I can use for my project. There isn't much text at all in this book apart from a few interviews so if you're expecting massive essays about her career and in-depth interviews then this probably isn't the book for you. However, if you're interested in visual communication which is thought-provoking like myself, then I would recommend this to you in a second. Perhaps one of my favourite sections of the book is a collection of cartoon drawings of dreams that Björk used to have as a child. I found this to be just adorable and very personal for her to communicate with her fanbase in such a way as to let them into her childhood dreams.
There are also many, many interesting photos of Björk, most in black and white, of her in just 'ordinary' situations. I think these are much more interesting than glamorous photoshoots of just an ordinary pop star. These photos make you think - or they make me think - about just what on earth she's trying to communicate with us. Is she trying to communicate anything at all? Perhaps not, but it's interesting to think about these things. I also really like the full colour reproduction of the "Homogenic" album cover, and also the CD cover to the single "Bachelorette." The large double-page screen still capture of the "All Is Full Of Love" is also very cool, with the two robots gently kissing.
This book has almost 200 pages in it, so I think you get your money's worth. It's a rather minimalist book though, and there are many blank pages with just a few words in the corner. This is how the book has been constructed, though, so you should respect Björk's artistic decisions. The cover jacket of the book also features an incredible story about Björk, which is hard to read at first because the font which has been used is the one which was used on the track listing of the "Vespertine" album. Overall I think a great product to add to your Björk collection, but perhaps not for everyone.
An emotional book 
2004-04-01 - This is a gift to every Björk fan in the world. Every single page is an emotion, every page tells you a little story, and that helps you to collect them in major story that will describe Björk. Even though the book has not many words, those words make you think, those words urge you to ask yourself things that will make you meditate about your real connection with Björk and what is your real situation in it. Perhaps is not a book for everybody, but it works for me.
If Photos Will Satisfy You...
2002-07-05 - Even though I'm a huge Bjork fan, this book still dissapointed me. The book is a collection of some wonderful photographs of Bjork, including many intimate and beautiful ones. For readers (not lookers), there is nothing to be offered - the editors seem to have felt that they should throw some arbitrary text in the middle written by arbitrary authors - and they really shouldn't have. The centre articles offer no insight into Bjork's thoughts or life; they are simply a collection of why the authors think Bjork is special (and who needs to know that!). After the halfway point, some very strange and "arty" pictures are included to finish off. Buy this book only if you are interested in some wonderful photo's of Bjork and if you don't mind the relatively steep price for what you're getting.
Review
2002-07-03 - The book definitely was great. It was a bit pricey, but it was worth it.
I would give it four and a half stars only because it was a little disappointing. There could have been lots of things included as well. I only reccomend it to good Björk fans, due to the inner simplicity of it that is hard to understand at first. I really like it a lot and reccomend it to the serious consumer. It was truly awesome.
