https://www.engadget.com/2014/06/13/bjork-biophilia-first-downloadable-app-in-moma/
We've seen lots of crazy things on display at the Museum of Modern Art -- a "rain room," a sex toy that works with your phone, a sleeping Academy Award-winning actress. Now you can add "tablet app" to that list. Bjork's "Biophilia," an interactive album released on iOS and Android, has become the first downloadable app to join MoMA's permanent collection. First released in 2011 (and still available for sale), the album allows listeners to "contribute" to songs by playing with interactive on-screen visuals. In "Solstice," for instance (pictured above), the orbits actually allow you to control the string music, with the option to save and record your own version. Ultimately, it was that interactivity that earned the app a spot in the collection. "With Biophilia, Björk truly innovated the way people experience music by letting them participate in performing and making the music and visuals, rather than just listening passively," said MoMA senior curator Paola Antonelli in a blog post.
The Biophilia app consists of a series of 10 separate apps, one for each song, all included in a "mother app" which contains a menu made up by a three-dimensional constellation which the user can shift, zoom and orbit by swiping their fingers to open the apps.[60] The first time the app is opened, an introduction by David Attenborough describes the application and the project itself.[61] This introduction was also used to open the Biophilia Tour residency concerts. On the up left corner, the "musical compass" icon serves as a home button to return to the menu.[61] If the icon is touched when the user is already facing the menu, a list of the application, including two pages for "how to navigate" and "credits", would appear.[60] Every app is named after the corresponding song and includes different options, along with a description of the song and application.[62] This short description link to an essay written for each song by Nikki Debben. The first option in the apps is to play the app, the second is the score, in which the user can look at the composition of the song, use it as a karaoke machine as the score has no vocals in it, or turn off the music and use it as sheet music.[61] The animation option links to an animation of the song created by Stephen Malinowski, in which different forms of different colors, linked to a specific instrument in the song, including Björk's voice, zoom in or out depending on their intensity.[61][63] The fourth option shows the lyrics of the song, which are not available in the "Dark Matter" app as it is sung in gibberish and thus has no lyrics at all.[61][64] The last option is to scroll the credits, which name the people who have worked in the app. The "mother app", "Cosmogony", is the constellation that includes all the other applications, and thus contains no particular game or instrument to play.[60][62] Nevertheless, it contains two other options, which are the possibility to replay the intro narrated by Attenborough and to play the song in its entirety.[60] When the user plays the song, whether they would click on the compass icon they would return to the main menu immediately. Tapping in an empty space of the constellation would also make the user return to the main screen. The apps are roughly divided into two kinds: the ones in which the user play a sort of games, and the other ones that work like a musical instrument.[65]
Almost every song on the app is presented in early, work-in-progress versions. For example, tracks like "Thunderbolt", "Sacrifice" and "Hollow" are missing their percussion parts and beats as they were added to the songs shortly before the album's physical release when Björk decided these early versions were unsatisfactory for a traditional music album. While "Sacrifice" is missing beats and is performed at a slightly lower speed, the most interesting early version of a Biophilia track is "Solstice"; the album version was recorded live during her Manchester residency but the app originally contained a demo version performed in studio. In addition to these work-in-progress versions, several of the games feature the songs with sections of music missing, to be played and manipulated by the player ("Thunderbolt" for example has the player drag their fingers across the screen to play the Tesla coil baseline).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophilia_(album)#App
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54617fbbe4b0e09964383d07/t/547df7eae4b014d3d288a1a0/1417541610029/201110NYTimes.pdf
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