Bjork’s Biophilia becomes first app introduced into Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection
by Chris Dodd | 13 Jun 2014
Bjork's Biophilia is the first downloadable app to be brought into MoMA's permanent collection / Zach Klein
The first-ever album app, created by Icelandic musician Bjork, has been inducted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, US.
Bjork’s 2011 project Biophilia saw the artist pull together her favourite app designers to create the software, which gave listeners the chance to interact with her material by reworking her music through discrete mini-games.
As well as being the first album app to be produced by a renowned musician, the creation is also the first-ever downloadable app to be introduced into MoMA’s permanent collection.
The app will join a host of influential devices in the collection, which exhibits other digital items including the revolutionary iPod.
"I started thinking about acquiring Biophilia when it was released in 2011,” wrote Paola Antonelli, senior curator of the museum's Department of Architecture and Design in a statement.
“At that time, a year after the iPad had been introduced, designers and developers were excitedly experimenting with apps that took advantage of a screen bigger than the iPhone.
“With Biophilia, however, Bjork truly innovated the way people experience music by letting them participate in performing and making the music and visuals, rather than just listening passively."
Following its introduction, the album app has gone on to influence young people with the creation of the Biophilia Educational Programme: an interactive learning platform recently brought into the Nordic curriculum.
The first-ever album app, created by Icelandic musician Bjork, has been inducted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, US. Bjork’s 2011 project Biophilia saw the artist pull together her favourite app designers to create the software, which gave listeners the chance to interact with her material by reworking her music through discrete mini-games. As well as being the first album app to
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