Interview

AUGUSTYNIAK: You’re distracting me from the questions I wanted to ask you! But this house idea does lead me to something I always wanted to ask you: Where are you from? And what is your country? Because it seems like each time I phone you, you’re in a different place, or you’re in between places.

BJÖRK: I guess I’m lucky because I’m from Iceland—you’ve heard about this place, no?

AUGUSTYNIAK: Yes, we have. [all laugh]

BJÖRK: I feel like the people from Iceland have a different relationship with their country than other places. Most Icelandic people are really proud to be from there, and we don’t have embarrassments like World War II where we were cruel to other people. We don’t even have an army. So it’s sort of like an all-around good, -innocent place. Maybe it’s just a personal thing, but I get so much grounding from Iceland because I know it’s always going to be there. I have a very happy, healthy relationship with the country, so it’s really easy to go everywhere because I always have Iceland to go back to. It’s sort of a contradiction, but that’s how it works somehow.

AUGUSTYNIAK: I know you’re not a protest singer, but in your song “Declare Independence,” you say, “Raise your flag!” you know?

BJÖRK: Yes.

AUGUSTYNIAK: You say, “Declare independence!” Would you ever like to be more politically involved?

BJÖRK: No, I don’t think so.

AUGUSTYNIAK: Because even though you’re sometimes far away from your country, you’ve been one of its greatest ambassadors.

BJÖRK: I feel like my last album was really very much about this emotion to want justice. And maybe I go with this emotion as a way to get at how it is to feel injustice—to want justice and to demand it. It’s very strong, this image of a person with a flag, declaring independence. But I’m not interested in politics. I lose interest the microsecond it ceases to be emotional, when something becomes a political movement. What I’m interested in is emotions.

AUGUSTYNIAK: Okay, but maybe you could run your country emotionally.

BJÖRK: [laughs] I’m not sure that I would want to run it. My country would then be very predictable for me—it wouldn’t have any surprises. Now it’s my turn to ask, no?

AUGUSTYNIAK and AMZALAG: Yes.

BJÖRK: I was interested in your relationship with the outdoors. I’ve been working outside a lot in Guatemala, and I’m enjoying very much this outdoor lifestyle. I was curious: If you could choose where you did your work, how many hours a day would you like to spend outside? And then I was also going to ask you: Could you design a computer screen that can handle daylight? It’s really difficult to see on the computer screen on your laptop when you’re outside.

AUGUSTYNIAK: But you can still work outside with a computer. For me, the revolution was when I felt like I could play an electric guitar outside. Now, with a portable computer, I have the feeling that I have a portable workshop. Does that make sense?

BJÖRK: But don’t you find it difficult to see the screen in the sun? There must be a way to make a computer screen that you can see outside. It’s all designed for indoor people. I think it’s very fascist.

AUGUSTYNIAK: So maybe the next technological move is to design a screen that you can use outside?

BJÖRK: Yeah.

AUGUSTYNIAK: But it’s already a bit like this, no? I have noticed that now when you’re outside, the computer screens brighten themselves on their own.

AMZALAG: The latest computers are light sensitive. So they lighten up a bit more when they have, like, strong light coming in.

BJÖRK: Oh, wow. But don’t the screens still have that plasma look, which is hard and doesn’t work well with natural light?

AUGUSTYNIAK: The screens are still not quite all the way there yet, but they’re getting better. Does that answer your question?

BJÖRK: Well, how many hours a day would you like to work outside if you could?