Hidden Places: Hyper-realism in Björk’s Vespertine and Dancer in the Dark

Grimley, Daniel

2005

Twentieth-Century Music 2(1): 37-51.

Language: English

In this article, the author discusses sound artist Björk’s collaboration with the director Lars von Trier on the film Dancer in the Dark (2000). He proposes a theoretical context for understanding Björk’s music in the light of her work with von Trier. In particular, he notes the sense of ‘hyperreality’ that emerges as a primary characteristic of her work, a characteristic that he contextualises in relation to Denis Smalley's theories of listener perception and spectromorphology, and Michel Chion's notion of 'synchresis'.