Work in Progress : Björk & Jesse Kanda
« When I collaborate with someone I really want to go on a trip. The work that comes from that is a natural fruit from friendship. »
Björk
Retranscription :
Björk : There’s so much more to music than just work. If I collaborate, I want connections to be genuine, it to be for real.
Jesse Kanda : Collaboration, it forces you to think about where to draw lines and who you are, and who they are.
Björk : Iceland is not a part of the first world. There’s no separation between nature and the work. They’re not referencing nature. They are nature.
In Reykjavík (ndrl. in the 80’s - punk scene), we have had artists work in a really small town for a really long time.
There’s, like, 50 bands, and we all share each others’ equipment, and everybody’s, like, helping each other out - nobody’s got any money.
And we juste make videos in each other’s bedrooms and poster by hand.
But everybody’s really, really clear about their individuality. And especially aesthetic language. The music video is one of the most incredible forms there is.
there are so many angles to approach where a song and a visual meet.
I think with people like, say, Jesse Kanda and Nick Knight, and Chris Cunningham, they are like visuel artists.
I look at my role more being - I’m sort of like a curator.
Jesse Kanda : I was born and raised in Japan. I grew up reading a lot of manga. Form, like, age 13, I started getting really into computers and the internet, and, like finding worlds though that. Like, whether it was creating graphics and art, or finding out about music, video games, and creating, and fabricating.
Björk : If I were to describe Jesse, I would say he’s very pure, and he’s very sensual. And he’s a very interesting mix of contrasts. Especially as an artist.
Jesse Kanda : (...) There is something that drives me to creating from scratch. Something that hopefully comes clode to how gorgeous nature is. Im’ always paying attention to how things move, and how things color, how things grow, decay, die.
I understand I’m working with challenging source material and ideas. Blood, bone, softness, hardness, catastrophe, beauty and - Utopia’s covers is a portrait of Björk. Depending on when you look at it, it can be ugly. And that’s the point, that’s what I’m trying to do. Making something painful but transmuting it into something beautiful. When I collaborate with someone I really want to go on a trip. The work that comes from that is a natural fruit from friendship.
Björk : Me and Jesse, we are very different, but I think one of the things we do share is our ideas. It’s more important that things, they are alive and are organic. When I
Jesse Kanda : Confrontational conversations are really helpful to become stronger friends and collaborators. We are both revealing to each other not just the ugly, but the beautiful.
