''Cornucopia'' is a 2025

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

concert film A concert film or concert movie is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert, by either a musician or a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian. Ea ...

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

based on the eponymous concert tour (2019–2023), which debuted as a residency at The Shed in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

before traveling the world and concluding four years later. Conceived around songs from her ninth studio album ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

'' (2017), the setlist also includes songs from ''

Vulnicura ''Vulnicura'' is the eighth studio album by Icelandic musician and singer Björk. It was produced by Björk, Arca and The Haxan Cloak, and released on 20 January 2015 by One Little Indian Records. Björk said the album expresses her feelings bef ...

'' (2015) and ''

Fossora ''Fossora'' is the tenth studio album by Icelandic singer-musician Björk. It was released on 30 September 2022 through One Little Independent Records. The album was recorded mainly during the COVID-19 pandemic and centers around the theme of i ...

'' (2022). The film chronicles a performance of the show at the

Altice Arena MEO Arena (formerly Altice Arena; also referred to by its former name, Pavilhão Atlântico) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Lisbon, Portugal. The arena is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe and the largest in Portugal with a capacity ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, directed by Icelandic filmmaker

Ísold Uggadóttir Ísold Uggadóttir is an Icelandic film director and screenwriter. She is known for her feature film debut in ''And Breathe Normally'', for which she won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Life and care ...

, with Björk billed as "sound and visual director". The movie overlays the performances with the visuals that were projected on the screens on the background of the live setting, which were created by German artist Tobias Gremmler and several others, including

Andrew Thomas Huang Andrew Thomas Huang is a Chinese American visual artist and film director known for his music videos for artists Björk, FKA twigs and Atoms for Peace. In 2019, Huang was nominated for a Grammy for his music video for FKA twigs, "Cellophane." H ...

Gabríela Friðriksdóttir Gabríela Friðriksdóttir (born 1971 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is an Icelandic visual artist, painter and sculptor. In 2005, she represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale, and she is a previous winner of Iceland's Gudmunda Art Prize (2001). She ...

Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones are a London-based photographic and filmmaking duo whose work spans fashion, film, art, scenography and music; together they founded WN Studio. Lives and careers Du Preez, a self-taught photographer from ...

. A shortened version of the movie was released on

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

and

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

on January 24, 2025. The full-length theatrical version of the film premiered at the Smárabíó cinema in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

on February 1, 2025, and it was released worldwide on May 7, 2025.

Background

Following the release of ''

'' in 2015, an album that delved into themes of heartbreak and emotional healing, written during and after the end of her relationship with American artist

Matthew Barney Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...

, Björk recorded her ninth studio album ''

'', which was released in 2017. Björk likened the writing of ''Utopia'' to "paradise" as opposed to ''Vulnicura'' being like "hell". To promote ''Utopia'', Björk embarked on a concert tour in 2018, known as the Utopia tour. The shows featured the 7-piece Icelandic

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

ensemble Viibra, American

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual string (music), strings running at an angle to its sound board (music), soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing ...

Katie Buckley, a

percussion section The percussion section is one of the main divisions of the orchestra and the concert band. It includes most percussion instruments and all unpitched instruments. The percussion section is itself divided into three subsections: * Pitched percus ...

played by Austrian musician

Manu Delago Manu Delago (born 31 July 1984) is an Austrian musician and composer. Biography Delago was born in Innsbruck, Tyrol (state), Tyrol, and took music lessons as a child in accordion and piano. As a teenager he mainly played drums for various rock ...

, with

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

and musical direction by

Bergur Þórisson __NOTOC__ Bergur Þórisson (transliterated as Thorisson; born 1993) is an Icelandic musician, composer, and audio engineer. He is one half of the neo-classical post-rock duo Hugar, musical director for Björk, and frequent collaborator of Ólaf ...

. The tour only visited

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. On November 12 2018, Björk announced Cornucopia, a new theatrical production premiering at The Shed. She described it as her "most elaborate stage concert yet, where the acoustic and digital will shake hands, encouraged by a bespoke team of collaborators". The band was the same as the Utopia tour, with the inclusion of Icelandic choir

The Hamrahlid Choir The Hamrahlid Choir or Hamrahlíðarkórinn as it is called in Icelandic was founded in 1981 by Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir, who remains its conductor. The choir consists of alumni of Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð (Hamrahlid College) in Icelan ...

. The theatrical version of the show was directed by

Lucrecia Martel Lucrecia Martel (born December 14, 1966) is an Argentine film director, screenwriter, and producer whose feature films have frequented Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and many other international film festivals. Film scholar Paul Julian Smith ...

with stage design by Chiara Stephenson and digital visual design by Tobias Gremmler. The creative team for Cornucopia also included choreography by Margrét Bjarnadóttir, lighting design by Bruno Poet, dresses and costumes by

Iris Van Herpen Iris van Herpen (born June 5, 1984) is a Dutch fashion designer known for fusing technology with traditional haute couture craftsmanship. Van Herpen opened her own label ''Iris van Herpen'' in 2007. In 2011, the Dutch designer became a guest-mem ...

and

Olivier Rousteing Olivier Rousteing (; born 13 September 1985) is a French fashion designer. He has been the creative director of Balmain since 2011. Early life and education Rousteing was born in Bordeaux and adopted by his parents at the age of one. His mothe ...

, sound design by Gareth Fry, sound engineering by John Gale, with frequent collaborator and artist James Merry involved in the making of masks and in the visual co-direction of the show. The live set of Cornucopia included 27 moving curtains that captured projections on different textures and LED screens, and several bespoke instruments such as a magnetic harp, an

aluphone The Aluphone is a tuned percussion instrument consisting of aluminum bells that are struck with a mallet to produce musical tones. In its standard configuration, the bells of the Aluphone are mounted on a frame, but it can also be played as a sin ...

, a circular flute, and a reverb chamber designed by

Arup Group Arup Group Limited, trading as Arup, is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London that provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. ...

to feature a "personal chapel" on stage. After the premiere at the Shed, Cornucopia was performed as a residency in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, before adapting to an arena tour in Europe. With the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

underway, plans to continue the tour were postponed. From 2021 to 2023, Björk embarked on the

Björk Orkestral Björk Orkestral was an "unplugged" concert series by Icelandic musician Björk. Originally announced for the summer of 2020, all concert dates were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A four-part concert series was later announced for August 2 ...

tour, which featured acoustic renditions of songs from her discography. She has stated costs to tour Cornucopia were also covered by doing these performances. In 2022, Björk released her tenth studio album, ''

''. While ''Utopia'' focused on airy, light themes, ''Fossora'' was rooted in more grounded, earthy sounds, influenced by her personal life and the pandemic's impact. In 2023, Björk resumed the Cornucopia tour in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, including songs from ''Fossora'' in the set list. Cornucopia is the first tour of Björk's career to not be named after a specific album, as she stated "I just knew it would be a vessel for more things".

Release

In a November 2023 interview with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', Björk confirmed that Cornucopia would be adapted into a

, originally slated for release in 2024. The ''Cornucopia'' movie was officially announced during

Climate Week Climate Week NYC is a charity event that takes place in New York City every year. Its purpose is to promote climate action by appealing to "business leaders, political change makers, local decision takers and civil society representatives". Clim ...

2024 in New York. The movie was produced by Snowstorm Productions, S101 Films and Level Forward.

Talkhouse ''Talkhouse'' is a digital media outlet and online magazine created in 2013 by Ian Wheeler and Tim Putnam. Musicians, actors, and filmmakers share their experiences in their respective fields in personal essays, discuss their peers' work in edi ...

co-executive produced the concert film. In January 2025, Björk teased the movie by giving several interviews to publications such as ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', '' GQ'', ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' and ''

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

'', in which she talked about the movie and the tour. On January 23, she sat down for an interview with

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

during his show on

Apple Music 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), a ...

, her first on-camera interview in a decade, to talk about ''Cornucopia'' and her creative process. During the talk, Björk wore the "Soul Gown" by fashion designer

Robert Wun Robert Wun is a Hong Kong-born London-based fashion designer. After graduating from London College of Fashion, Wun founded his eponymous fashion brand in 2014, focusing on womenswear collections. Early life and education Wun was born and raise ...

, embroidered with 97,000

Swarovski Swarovski (, ) is an Austrian producer of glass based in Wattens, Tyrol. It was founded in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski. The company is split into three major industry areas: the Swarovski Crystal Business, which primarily produces crystal glas ...

crystals. A shortened version of the movie, lasting 74 minutes, was released on

as part of the Apple Music Live series on January 24, 2025. The full-length movie was previewed exclusively for Björk and collaborators at the Smárabíó cinema in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

on January 22, before being theatrically released in Iceland from February 1, 2025. Screenings were expected to start in March in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It was later announced that the full movie was going to be screened internationally in 500 theaters and more than 25 countries for a limited time starting on May 7, 2025. During the theater release, after the credits roll, music videos of "

Atopos ''Atopos'' is a genus of carnivorous air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Rathouisiidae. Species Species within the genus ''Atopos'' include: * ''Atopos aborense'' (Ghosh, 1913) *''Atopos australis' ...

", " Arisen My Senses" and " Blissing Me" were screened.

Live album

Alongside the concert film, Björk released a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

consisting of the performances from the show. The album, titled ''Apple Music Live: Björk (Cornucopia)'', was released exclusively on

and available in

spatial audio 3D audio effects are a group of sound effects that manipulate the sound produced by stereo speakers, surround-sound speakers, speaker-arrays, or headphones. This frequently involves the virtual placement of sound sources anywhere in three-dimen ...

. According to a press release, the setlist was arranged "to celebrate Björk's lifetime of creative innovation".

Track listing

All tracks written by

, except where noted. Notes * In the audio-only version, "Family" (Intro) is omitted, and "The Gate" and "Utopia" make up a single track. * On "Manifesto" Björk reads a text over "Arpeggio", a flute solo included in the Bird Call Boxset edition of ''

''.

References

External links