By Jason Epstein
Last year, we recognized Björk and Scott Snibbe as FlashFWD honorees for creating Biophilia, their educational, musical app-album. Now, Björk is launching a Kickstarter campaign to get the app released on Android and Windows 8 platforms. The Biophilia educational program is meant to teach children about science and music. It has been used all over the world, especially for students in low-income areas with schools that have had their arts budgets slashed. The claim here is that the best way to bring the project to these people is by having Biophilia reprogrammed for Android and Windows 8.
Biophilia is a multimedia program that includes an album, sub-apps, a live show, and an educational program for children housed under a single app. It explores the link between music, nature, and technology and seems like it would be fun and worthwhile for children, especially those who do not have access to school-funded arts education programs.
Björk has done Biophilia live show residencies all around the world, in cities like New York, Buenos Aires, Oslo, and Manchester with the next show taking place in Paris. The Biophilia Educational Program works to create lesson plans with local school authorities. The interactivity of touch screens is a great tool for teaching students to learn in an intuitive way.
The Biophilia App is said to be an excellent teaching tool for children who have ADHD, curiously showing that they do even better than their peers by allowing them to work at their own pace, teaching themselves. If Biophilia could include a way for a student’s devices to play music by emulating all different instruments, that would really be a boon for those who don’t have access to actual musical instruments or music classes, and of course, for children who have ADHD and want to learn an instrument at their own pace.
This app is innovative both musically and technologically; in fact, its “app album”, is the first of its kind. Each “song” on this “album” has its own interactive interpretation of the app, allowing users to learn about time signatures and chords among other musical topics. One such song is called “Thunderbolt,” and involves the manipulation of lightning bolts to teach how arpeggios (sequenced notes or chords that allow a small amount of time to elapse between each other) work.
My first thought was that this is a non-profit, volunteer-based project, so how in the world is this going to cost 375,000 pounds? First of all, the program has been created already. All it needs to do is be reprogrammed, right? So, what gives Björk?
Well, upon further inspection, this project involves creating an open-source curriculum guide for educators and they do want to be able to pay educational specialists to create these lesson plans. Also, they need to pay a record company that will handle manufacturing, production, and fulfillment of the rewards granted by donating, project managers for coding purposes, and a staff of 6 people over the course of 6 months who will convert Biophilia’s 10-app suite. Admittedly, I’m not a programmer, a manufacturer, or a project manager for Biophilia, but they have also said that it’s “non-profit” and “volunteer-based,” so with which parties involved in this venture does that line begin to blur? £375,000 is $590,925 as conversion rates go today. Nothing to scoff at.
As with every Kickstarter campaign, there are different rewards for different levels of support starting with the app itself for just a £10 pound contribution. They are also offering a documentary DVD, an exclusive Biophilia Kickstarter shirt, a 12” picure disc, a lithographic print, a special Biophilia package with audio CDs (and an Ultimate Edition of that as well, with tuning forks and all sorts of other wacky schwag), a general admission ticket to a Biophilia residency date and a VIP ticket with all sort of perks. Everyone who donates will be kept updated to Biophilia’s progress.
Below is a list of the 10 songs on Biophilia, with its teaching points and the natural element it is tied to.
Thunderbolt - Arpeggios : Lightning
Moon - Sequencers : Tidal patterns
Dark Matter - Musical scales : Dark Matter
Crystalline - Song structure : Crystals
Hollow - Time signatures : DNA
Virus - Interactive music : Viruses
Solstice - Counterpoint : Gravity
Mutual Core - Chords : Tectonic plates
Sacrifice - Notation : Interaction of the sexes
Cosmogony - Harmony : Equilibrium
Check out the Biophilia Educational Program website here.
You can contribute to the Kickstarter campaign here. Check out Björk’s campaign video below:
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