I hope you weren’t planning on trying to impress everyone with YOUR 3D printed musculoskeletal mask because, as you would expect, Björk just totally schooled everyone with one of her own. Stratasys, who helped print the mask using their full-color, multi-material tech, called it “yet another fashion-forward step.” We prefer to call it “so damn creepy, it’s cool.”
The mask, named Rottlace (a variation of the Icelandic term for ‘skinless’), was created with inspiration from Björk’s latest album, Vulnicura. (I highly recommend her Vulnicura Strings which was recorded featuring the Viola Organista, an instrument designed by Leonardo Da Vinci.)
Björk first shared the mask on Instagram prior to a (world’s first) 360° VR livestream performance of Quicksand in Tokyo, in which she wore the mask. Did she crank out the CAD to make it herself? Not quite. The mask was designed by the renowned MIT professor, designer and innovator Neri Oxman, who has created computationally grown, 3D printed structures inspired by everything from bacteria to solar systems. Using 3D scans of Björk’s gnoggin, she generated digital representation of her bone and tissue structure, that she could then wear on top of her bone and tissue structure.
Neri and the MIT Mediated Matter group designed the multi-material bone and muscle construction to be printed in one go. This isn’t the last mask you’ll see either. Neri is working closely with Stratasys to create other masks; a collection that will debut under the name ‘The New Ancient’. No word yet if Björk’s face sweat will be part of that.
My guess is this will be a big hit for the 3D printer kids come Halloween. “BREAKING: Everyone wants a Björk mask!” They need to post this sucka on Thingiverse and see how many re-mixes they get. It’s been a few weeks since Björk has released a trippy, weird video with here trippy, weird voice. Hopefully this thing is inspiration for the next one.
