The Reluctant Whore

Bjork announced on her website that she is letting the general public enter a competition to direct the music video to the single, "Innocence" from her forthcoming album "Volta". While it seems like a really progressive and edgy way to infuse an innocent authenticity into professional art, there's an undeniably calculated creative marketing tactic behind this that is designed to be passed off as pure art.

Sort of like distressed jeans tha't cost 450 dollars and water with a name.

The thing is,currently, many of the most successful and stimulating commercial ideas and inventions are more often than not, a product of one of two things. One, you get a product and simply add caffeine. Two, is somehow infusing reality TV type culture into the product – ie. blurring the line between the access normal people have to the inner workings of heralded celebrities by televising everything celebrities do, or simply making average people celebrities in their own right by whacking them on TV. It’s this weird way of capitalising on the journey through averageness. Profiting from average people’s lack of conditioned talent. That’s not to say that there isn’t undiscovered talent but the theme really seems to reek of calculated marketing being passed off as art. Still, at least the public are being prompted to interact with Bjork. Other components of the marketing campaign include multiple international tour dates and Saturday Night Live. All timed down to the last second. [source]