Björk Makes Her Miami Debut With a DJ Set During Art Basel 2017

If you don't know who Björk is, where have you been the past three decades?

The Icelandic musician, artist, and sometimes actress is an icon at this point in her solo career, which has spanned three decades. She's defied expectations and created music and accompanying visuals that have withstood the test of time. Unfortunately, Florida has never had the opportunity to see Björk in the flesh.

That's about to change during Art Basel and Miami Art Week, when III Points will bring Björk to Miami to finally make her Florida debut. To call her arrival a momentous moment for music in Miami is an understatement. III Points might have scored the booking to end all bookings.

The Tuesday of Art Basel, Björk will hold court at Mana Wynwood for a DJ set. The performance will mark the fifth installment of III Points' annual Art Basel concert series, which in the past has brought artists such as FKA Twigs, James Blake, Kendrick Lamar, Jamie xx, and Darkside.

And, sure, Miami won't get a live performance by Björk, but her DJ sets have been well received whenever she's performed; Vice's Thump said, "You can't call yourself a noise techno fan until you've seen Björk jumping around next to you on a dance floor." Her sets have included music from artists such as Kate Bush, Britney Spears, and Brandy, as well as collaborator the Haxan Cloak. She also recently performed a four-hour DJ set at Barcelona's Sónar festival.

Whether she'll bring the Björk Digital component, an interactive A/V experience, to Mana remains to be seen. But either way, expect her appearance during Miami Art Week to be one of the buzziest events of the season.
Björk got her musical start as a child but gained notoriety as part of the alternative-rock band the Sugarcubes in the '80s. However, the Björk everyone knows today emerged with the release of 1993's aptly named Debut. The apex of her career came in the late '90s and early '00s with the back-to-back releases of Homogenic and Vespertine, which saw her perfectly balance the pop sensibilities of her earlier work with the avant-garde exploration of her more recent offerings.

Her latest album, Vulnicura, offers a deeply personal look into her breakup with artist Matthew Barney. The  track "Black Lake" is perhaps one of the most visceral descriptions of a failed relationship. "Family was always our sacred mutual mission/Which you abandoned," she sings on the track.

On the newly released single "The Gate," she describes feeling optimistic about the love she has to give, signing, "My healed chest wound/Transformed into a gate/Where I receive love from/Where I give love from."

With nine albums under her belt, Björk has toured extensively around the world — except in Florida. Here's hoping the DJ set spurs her to consider a Miami date on her next world tour.

Björk DJ Set. 9 p.m. Tuesday, December 5, at Mana Wynwood, 318 NW 23rd St., Miami; 305-573-0371; manawynwood.com. Tickets cost $55 to $111 via showclix.com.