Would we expect anything less from Björk, though?
If you happen to find yourself travelling through the Big Apple and you’re looking for something a little different, a little interesting to incorporate into your stay, Manhattan’s boutique Sister City hotel may just be what you’re after. Of course, it does help if you’re a Björk fan as well; with the Icelandic singer behind a AI-assisted score for the establishment.
The lobby music at the hotel will be featuring snippets from across Björk’s extensive career, with the unique score titled ‘Kórsafn’. You can listen to the score online here.
For the score, Björk worked with Microsoft last year in bringing selections of orchestral arrangements to life. Some of these arrangements are performed by the 50-strong Hamrahlid Choir – the resulting music being ethereal and stunning.
“An architectural structure [in] downtown Manhattan offered be the hand in an AI tango and I accepted the call. I am alert with curiosity waiting the results.” Björk has said.
The ‘Kórsafn’ project reacts to what the AI sees in the sky via a rooftop camera, mainly cloud types, aircraft, birds and weather pressure.
“I offered them my choir archives,” Björk says.
“Written over 17 years that will float through the pinball of artificial intelligence by the grid of bird migrations, clouds, aeroplanes and that voluptuous thing called barometer!”
Last year, Julianna Barwick composed AI-generated music for the Sister City Hotel. The project was the first-ever interactive lobby score.
Elsewhere in New York, you might remember Arca’s soundtrack for the Museum of Modern Art making headlines last year. The electronic musician also used AI to produce the first ever-evolving soundtrack piece.
