Lykke Li | Album Release Showcase 'Ü & EYEYE'

Directed by Theo Lindquist

Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li presented an interactive showcase Ü & EYEYE for her recent album EYEYE at The Broad museum’s Oculus Hall from September 1-4. Li collaborated with creative director Theo Lindquist and artist Nick Verstand for the Resonant Tones series exhibit, which was produced by Solana Rivas. The Broad describes Li’s first museum installation as a “hyper-sensory cathedral of female romantic fantasy.” It utilized L-Acoustics’ L-ISA sound technology, which creates a vibrant, clear sound through ultra-high-resolution spatial audio. The exhibit featured seven visual loops directed by Lindquist that will pair with Li’s EYEYE album. The project also included a performance with Li and her band. Li talks about the immersive exhibit below.

As an immersive exhibit that is designed to activate memory responses, what is the most prevalent memory that inspired your exhibition?

Every single loop is made from a real life experience that then become a memory I had to grief. It's too personal to tell you the actual details, but the feeling and essentially memories of the experience are infatuation, obsession, addiction, climaxing, relapse, comedown, spiraling, abandonment, fantasizing, longing, dreaming, hallucinating.

Where do you think the line between the sacred and art lies within your work? Have you always had a desire to transform your craft into something fully immersive?

I think we as artists are always channeling our own pain and turning it into light or something tangible like a song or an image and that in itself is a sacred, spiritual act. Also, the nature of being an artist is to stay open and deeply vulnerable, and so life for me has always been a very immersive experience. If you close your eyes and just tune in, it's all there, the smells, the sounds, the vibrations, and I finally had enough skill and time to take it all the way.  

What do you find most valuable about interactive art that stimulates all of the senses?

I always want more from life, more feeling, more beauty, louder, deeper and to have a transcendent five dimensional experience. 

How have you been impacted, as a musical artist, after having bridged the gap between pop music and performance art?  What do you hope viewers will take away from this project? 

Art has always been in my life from the time I was born, and it has always been important for me to always push my own boundaries and imagination and be curious and at the same time fearful, like can I really pull this off? I have had so many transitions in my life already, from being a dancer, to quitting that, to self learning the piano, to then writing and producing songs, mastering, art directing… It all comes from the same well, the desire to express yourself, it's more in a different form and context now but more exciting for me. It’s much deeper and richer. To be stuck in any box is boring. We should always try to break away from the bud we are kept in. I feel like I have been preparing for this moment my whole life and career, and I am deeply grateful to be presenting something so extremely personal and all-encompassing. What I hope from the viewers is a chance to process and heal their heartbreak and relation to romantic love.