Björk teases new album through ‘Echolalia’ 2026 exhibition in Reykjavík
Björk
Icelandic artist Björk is preparing new music tied to a forthcoming studio album that will debut as part of the exhibition “Echolalia” at the National Gallery of Iceland during the 2026 Reykjavík Arts Festival. The gallery confirms that one of three planned immersive installations will be built around material from a “forthcoming album, currently in development“, marking Björk’s first new studio work since “Fossora” in 2022.
“Echolalia” will occupy all four galleries of the National Gallery of Iceland from 30 May to 20 September 2026 and focuses on Björk as the central creative force behind large-scale multimedia projects.
The three installations include new work based on music from the upcoming Björk album, alongside “Ancestress” and “Sorrowful Soil”, which were originally released in conjunction with “Fossora” and pay tribute to her late mother, environmental activist Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir. This new project follows an intensive run of activity around “Fossora”, including the “Cornucopia” tour, which was documented in the 2025 concert film and live release “Apple Music Live: Björk (Cornucopia)”.
Björk is no stranger to large scale installations. In April 2023 for instance, Side-Line already reported on her Coachella appearance, where she incorporated a swarm of 864 drones into an orchestral performance.
Bjork from a distance #Coachella pic.twitter.com/hHIWaAtZfy
— Gregory Ellwood – The Playlist 🎬 (@TheGregoryE) April 17, 2023
In 2024 she also co-created “Nature Manifesto”, an immersive sound piece at the Centre Pompidou in Paris that used AI-generated calls of extinct animals to address biodiversity loss.
About Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1965. She released her first, self-titled juvenilia album on the Icelandic label Fálkinn in 1977, before working through a series of local bands including Tappi Tíkarrass and Kukl. In the late 1980s she became internationally known as vocalist of Reykjavik group the Sugarcubes, whose releases on One Little Indian introduced her to a wider alternative-rock audience.
After the Sugarcubes, Björk issued the jazz-leaning covers album “Gling-Gló” with Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar in 1990, then launched her international solo career with the electronic-leaning album “Debut” in 1993 on One Little Indian and Elektra. “Post” followed in 1995, with a companion remix album, “Telegram”, released in 1996.
With “Homogenic” in 1997, Björk shifted towards a harder electronic sound combined with string ensembles, a direction often cited as a pivotal point in her catalogue. In 2000 she wrote and performed the music for Lars von Trier’s film “Dancer in the Dark”, issued as the album “Selmasongs”. Subsequent records “Vespertine” (2001), “Medúlla” (2004) and “Volta” (2007) each foregrounded different aspects of her sound, from intimate micro-beats and choirs to brass-heavy and rhythm-focused arrangements.
In the 2010s, “Biophilia” (2011) linked album tracks with interactive educational apps, while “Vulnicura” (2015) documented a personal narrative through string-heavy arrangements and electronic production. “Utopia” (2017) and “Fossora” (2022) continued her collaboration with producers and visual artists around themes of ecology, community and transformation, with many of these works later adapted into live formats such as the multi-media “Cornucopia” shows and orchestral re-settings.
Björk now works largely from Iceland and remains active in environmental campaigns, including public positions on climate and local ecological issues.
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