Perth Festival’s Björk concert will involve largest pavilion of its kind to be constructed in Southern Hemisphere

October 22, 2022

Arts / Entertainment / Events / Venues /

Perth Festival 2023 will involve the construction of a special 100metre x 55metre pavilion in Langley Park - the largest pavilion of its kind to be seen in the Southern Hemisphere – to accommodate Björk’s dazzling live concert experience Cornucopia.

Cornucopia is a visually spectacular landscape of lush colours, futuristic screens and wild images of nature that comes alive with Björk's music, as she performs live alongside musicians and choirs of flutes and voices.

For this very special Festival closing celebration supported by Tourism WA, audiences are invited into the custom-made pavilion in Langley Park to discover Björk’s cyber-sonic Garden of Eden in which nature and technology merge in perfect harmony.

Björk has presented Cornucopia only a few times in select cities around the world and the Icelandic icon’s week-long Perth riverfront residency is a rare opportunity to experience her spectacular theatrical concert masterpiece for the first time in Australasia.

The concert is Björk’s most elaborate production yet and her first and only live concert performance in Australia since 2008.

Co-directed by Björk and Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, this “sci-fi pop concert” is based on her environmentally themed 2017 album Utopia, plus songs from new album Fossora and hits from her 30-year solo career.

There are water drums, a cocoon-like reverb chamber, a video message from Greta Thunberg, costumes by the fashion house Balmain and the lavish visuals of artist Tobias Gremmler projected above designer Chiara Stephenson’s beautiful forest of flora and fungi.

Artistic Director Iain Grandage enthused “there is no greater joy than welcoming Björk to Perth. She is an adored artist at the forefront of international creative imagining, and Cornucopia is the epitome of that artistry. Here on Noongar Boodjar in one of the ten most bio-diverse places on the planet, we welcome her explosion of visual and aural wonderment with open arms and excited expectation.”

The full Perth Festival 2023 program will be announced next Thursday 27th October.

Perth Festival opens 10th February 2023, and Lotterywest Films season opens next month on Monday 21st November 2022.

Björk presale opens 12pm Thursday 27th October. General on sale for Björk and the full Perth Festival 2023 Program is 12pm Thursday 3rd November.

Image. Cornucopia Credit: Santiago Felipe

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