If there’s one thing to expect from Björk, it’s her ability to reinvent herself in fantastically chaotic worlds. First there was a futuristic Björk robot in love, and later, a naked, geisha-like Björk cocooned in red thread. Now, from the minds of directing duo Encyclopedia Pictura, we get her latest video, "Wanderlust"; it involves a nomadic Björk tackling topics of divination, symbiotic animal relationships and psychological baggage in a stereoscopic (aka 3-D) Mongolian passion play. And yes, those are huge animatronic yaks in the background.
Citing a knack for psychokinetic energy, cryptozoology, natural geometry and fruit sandwiches, Encyclopedia Pictura—consisting of self-proclaimed nature boys Isaiah Saxon and Sean Hellfritsch—found an alchemical bond with Björk, who refers to them as “gorgeous computer nerds”. From their woodsy San Francisco outpost, they’ve worked on music videos for Seventeen Evergreen, Zion and, most notably, Grizzly Bear.
Being that it's 3-D and all, don’t wait for the YouTube version of "Wanderlust." Encyclopedia Pictura will show the video at the Flux screening the Hammer, and (bonus!) will be on deck for a Q&A afterward. In the meantime, we’ve stolen Isaiah away from putting the finishing touches on the video to probe him about the EP process.
How did the collaboration with Björk come about? Björk saw our Grizzly Bear video, and afterwards she very sweetly invited us to do a video for her. We then sent her a map of some woods where she could find us, and when she got there we pantomimed our idea to her—doing our best to physically communicate what a giant yak at the end of time might actually look and feel like.
A Mongolian passion play? What's that about?
The concept of the video is our attempt at creating mytho-poetic cosmology of a primitive world, complete with water deities and the struggle towards the future—the main theme being nomadism, since it is for the track "Wanderlust."
Did you always intend for Wanderlust to be 3-D?
Over a year ago I received a turn-of-the-century Opticon [stereo image] viewer along with a suitcase of stereo pairs, and we became obsessed with 3-D. Then we saw the film "Deep Sea 3-D," and after experiencing that we decided we weren’t going to shoot 2-D anymore if we could help it. So from here on out, it’s all 3-D.
What's next for Encyclopedia Pictura? Right now we’re developing an idea about a usable visual language. Communication with this visual language would be like singing or vomiting out of one’s soul into visually understood matter, avoiding the pitfalls of words.
To see Encyclopedia Pictura's work in tiny 2-D, have a gander at Grizzly Bear's "The Knife," below. But to see 3-D insanity, head to the Flux screening of "Wanderlast" Tuesday, March 25, at the Hammer. Afterward, mingle in the courtyard and ask them how, exactly "vomiting out of one's soul" works.
(Below: Encyclopedia Pictura's video for "The Knife")
