

The choice to mark Kid A and Amnesiac in this way also makes sense from a purely personal point of view. However, Kid A and Amnesiac pushed that trajectory much further, incorporating influences from ambient, electronic, jazz, and post-rock and often eschewing guitars or traditional rock ’n’ roll structures altogether. Looking back, Kid A and Amnesiac are sometimes overlooked in the shadow of OK Computer - arguably the band’s most widely known effort, as well as the one that’s frequently credited for revolutionizing their sound and putting them on a firmly experimental trajectory. It is fitting, too, that Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition commemorates 20-something years since the band’s fourth and fifth studio albums, recorded at the same time but released in 20 respectively. There is a sense in which it was only a matter of time before Radiohead expanded into one of entertainment’s most interactive mediums with Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition. Guitarist Johnny Greenwood scored Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood back in 2007, for example, and Anderson worked with frontman Thom Yorke in 2019 on a short film for Netflix and IMAX.

Nor is it completely unexpected - virtual performances by real-life artists are increasingly common, and members of Radiohead have toyed with the boundaries between music and other forms of artistic expression for years. In a year that has given us the likes of Genesis Noir, Mundaun, and Cruelty Squad, a virtual art exhibition by one of the world’s biggest rock bands is perhaps not the most unusual release in the medium.
