i8 Gallery | Tryggvagata 16 | 101 Reykjavik | Iceland | Tel: +354 551 3666 @ | Fax: +354 578 3667 | info@i8.is | www.i8.is

EGILLSÆBJÖRNSSON

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

I. InstallationsPopcorn (2012) La Linea (2012)Hot Plates (2012Plugstaab (2010)Rotating Unit (2010) Eraser & Ruler (2010)Stoneheads (2010)The Silent Maker (2010) Five Boxes (2009) Grey Still Life I (2009) Grey Still Life II (2009)Original Handbags (2008)Pleasure Stones (2008)Kugeln (2008)Three Stones (2008)Various Projections (2007)Five Bottles (2007)Ping Pong Dance (2006)

II. Performative WorkOn the Beach (2012)What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (2011)Recreating the World at the Speechdesk (2011)The World is Bigger than you Think (2011)An Idear for Thwoo Feet, Two Hands & 4 Corners (2005)

III. Site SpecificSteinkugel - Robert Koch Institute (2014)Kaskaden - Kunstmuseum Ahlen (2014)A Night Turns Into a Day (2011)Guggi (2014)The Builder inside the Staircase (2010)

IV. ConversationalThe Egg or the Hen, Us or Them (2011)Wall to wall (2008)Mr Piano & Mrs Pile (2004)You Take all My Time (2002 - 2003)

Artist´s website:www.egills.de

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

POPCORN, 2012

Computer game programming, self generative image source, solenoids and arduino sound technology. 12 plywood boxes with 10mm granite plates. duration: infinite

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

LA LINEA, 2012

Computer game programming, self generative image source, solenoids and arduino sound technology. 5 plywood boxes with 8mm steel plates. duration: infinite

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

HOTPLATES, 2012

Computer game programming, self generative image source, solenoids and arduino sound technology. 5 plywood boxes with ceramic plates. duration: infinite

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

PLUGSTAAB, 2010

single-channel video projection with glass bowl, fishing net, sound.Duration: 3:09 min

A glassbowl is hanging in a fishnet from the ceiling. A video of shapes is projected onto it. As the video hits the glass a new image is composed on the wall behind. Reflections on the wall, the deformed video image and the shadow of the glassbowl create an image of a some sort of a beast that is underlined with breathing sounds and popping sounds.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

ROTATING UNIT, 2010

Single-channel video projection, chicken wire object, rotating unit and sound. Format 4:3Duration: 6:52 min

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

ERASER AND RULER, 2010

single-channel video projection with 3D animation, objects, shelf and sound Duration: 05:17 min. An eraser is shot up in the air with a ruler and spins around, a different route each time but always landing on the physical eraser that lies on the shelf. The projection of the shelf and all objects is projected onto these same items which are painted white.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

STONEHEADS, 2010Installation view Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main

Chicken wire, single channel HD videoDimension variableDuration: 07:00 min

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

THE SILENT MAKER, 2010

glass objects, rotating display, single channel video, sound.Duration: 05:00 min. Glass objects are placed on a rotating display. A video projection with a white spot and colours project through the glass objects onto the wall and create prismic light reflections into the space.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

FIVE BOXES, 2009Installation, Reykjavik Art Museum - Hafnarhus

The piece consists of four rectangular boxes onto which a video animation is projected. This luminous animation creates the illusion that the boxes rearrange and reshuffle themselves and fly through the exhibition space, opening up now and again for the occasional banana to sail from one box to the next. Rendering the chimerical experience more “real,” each of the actual boxes contains a solonoid triggered to strike the sides of the wooden structures from inside, timed so the sounds seems to respond to the projected images. In this way, the boxes serve as musical instruments or small drums.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

GREY STILL LIFE, 2009

Installation with painted objects, single channel video and sound.Duration: 08:30 min

A bundle of grey painted objects form a “still life” setup on a shelf. A video creates the illusion of lamps casting light onto the objects from different angles. On top of this greyscale movement of light and shadows, brightly coloured geometrical and abstract forms move around. A sound track adds another dimension to the piece and consists of electronically modified trumpet sounds and tones produced with a synthesizer. The soundtrack was made in collaboration with composer Áki Ásgeirsson. The combination of still life, time based video, choreographed movements of light and colours blur the boundaries between painting, sculpture, music scores, dance and theatre.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

GREY STILL LIFE II, 2009

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

ORIGINAL HANDBAGS, 2008 A single channel video installation with 8 handbags and soundChoreography: Egill Sæbjörnsson & Marcia MoraesDuration: 7 min

Eight handbags of different kind and sizes hang on a wall. An animated videoprojection of the same handbags is projected onto this composition. The projected handbags begin dancing in a choreographed order: They swing, twist and turn and sing together “We are all of the same origin. We are still, but we move…” The bags are brought into life with the movements but as well with a soundtrack consisting of recorded voical sounds and a bell. The partiture is partly rythmic and partly non rythmical and compliments the movements of the bags, sometimes synchronized, sometimes in spontaneously.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

PLEASURE STONES, 2008

Installation at Art Forum Berlin

A single channel video installation with two lava rocks and soundDimensions variable. Duration: 07:00 min

The two stones sit on the pedestal like the two men in Samuel Beckets play Waiting for Godot. Although not a homage to Becket’s play the piece has a strong references to the two characters. In the video that is projected on the two stones the two same shapes move around and they even talk a little bit. The dramaturgy of the piece or the narrative is absolutely abstract though and is basically built up on three chapters: 1: The stones fall into place, 2: they stay still but change colours, 3: Climax: the stones explode with colours.

The projected images simulate the human need of projecting and creating stories around objects in their environment. It is about how we create many parts of our life through tradition and habit.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

DREI STEINE, 2008

Installation i8 Gallery, ReykjavikStones, pedestal, single-channel video projection, soundDimensions variableDuration: 10 min

Three cobblestones sit on a pedestal. They face each other slightly. A video projection illuminates the stones from one meter away. The stones are glowing. Blending with their open granite structure in a luminous effect, the video projection also lands on the wall behind. The stones seem to float, present and absent at the same time. In the background we hear sounds of boulders rubbing against each other, sounds recorded using the three stones and then manipulated.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

KUGELN, 2008

Plastic buckets, mop, broom, pedestal, single-channel video projection, soundDimensions variableDuration: 13:00 min As the white lines or the white spots of the video fly around and hit the buckets a spectacle is created with reflecting light on the surrounding deriving from the obstacles. A soundtrack of insects from the Brazilian rainforest gives the work a feeling of different places and memories.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

VARIOUS PROJECTIONS, 2007

Installation view Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary ArtPlastic bucket, wooden stick, stone, branch from a tree, pedestal, single-channel video projection, soundDimensions variableDuration: 07:51 min

A video is projected on a stone that has been placed on a small pedestal, onto a branch hanging from the ceiling and a bucket and onto a wooden stick attached to the wall. While the video interacts with the objects, a soundtrack plays — powerfully triggering our imagination as we watch the piece evolve. The objects were all found in the desert around Scottsdale, Arizona, apart from the wooden stick that was from the storage of the Scottsdale Museum for Contemporary Art. There is a figurative element, in which images of the desert landscape with its saguaro cactuses and “rocky mountains” interact with the objects. Another segment of the work is based on simple abstract forms that seem to change the nature of the objects. In this way “various projections” are used to create different interpretations of the same objects.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

FIVE BOTTLES, 2007

An installation with objects, video and sound

In this installation an animation is used to project onto glass objects and a candle. It looks as if a small ball jumps from one bottle to the other and it interacts with the smoke of the fire coming from the candle. The shadow from the smoke and the objects play with the video image. Together these recreate a new composition on the wall.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Installation

PING PONG DANCE, 2006

Installation with single channel video, objects and soundDuration: 00:13 min

The ping-pong balls fly out of the buckets and perform a dance where they talk and sing. The performed movements are against laws of gravity and are smooth, harsh and joyful at times but sadder at others. The installation is composed of very simple elements and thus the combination of the simple look and the rich choreography creates a tension.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Performative work

ON THE BEACH Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, 2012

Inspired by the seminal opera Einstein on the Beach by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass from 1976.

Upon invitation from Robert Wilson, Egill Sæbjörnsson and Marcia Moraes amongst 4 other groups of artists worked on a special version of Einstein on the Beach. Sæbjörnsson and Moraes created 5 of the so called “knee plays” that are shorter interludes between scenes of the Opera. For this they built upon Sæbjörnsson’s installation pieces using video with objects, expanding the medium, adding dance, mime, aerials and singing. The music was made in collaboration with the German composer Arash Safaian building on the original score of Philip Glass.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

ON THE BEACH Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, 2012

Inspired by the seminal opera Einstein on the Beach by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass from 1976.

Upon invitation from Robert Wilson, Egill Sæbjörnsson and Marcia Moraes amongst 4 other groups of artists worked on a special version of Einstein on the Beach. Sæbjörnsson and Moraes created 5 of the so called “knee plays” that are shorter interludes between scenes of the Opera. For this they built upon Sæbjörnsson’s installation pieces using video with objects, expanding the medium, adding dance, mime, aerials and singing. The music was made in collaboration with the German composer Arash Safaian building on the original score of Philip Glass.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/07/arts/music/on-the-beach-at-baryshnikov-arts-center.html

PERFORMANCE WORKS

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Performative work

WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE, 2011

performance/installation at the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum Für Gegenwart - Berlin– Festival of Contemporary Music of the Berliner Festspiele.

A collaboration with the Brazilian actor and director Marcia Moraesphotographs: Frank Paul

In a three-part theatrical space, pseudo-instruments, musicians and various props and objects come on stage and are intergrated into a visual and acoustic dramaturgy. Scenes and sounds unfold according to principles of metamorphosis and synchronicity in the three projecrion spaces, developing an idiosyncratic merry magic.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Performative work

THE WORLD IS BIGGER THAN YOU THINK, 2011

Performance installationThe Watermill Center, New York

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Performative work

RECREATING THE WORLD AT THE SPEECH DESK, 2011

Performancelecture series # 4, Johann König, Berlin; Nürnberg Kunstverein – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft; Landmark, Bergen Konsthalle

Is it possible to say that “modern” or even “contemporary” reaches as far back as 7500 BCE? Is it possible to “feel” that period of time and integrate it to the time we “live in”? How can we do that? How would that change our view on the World?

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Performative work

AN IDEAR 4 THWOO HANDS, 2 FEET & 4 CORNERS, 2005

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Performative work

AN IDEAR 4 THWOO HANDS, 2 FEET & 4 CORNERS, 2005- Installation - stage

The work is a performance originally commissioned by gallery Isabella Bortolozzi in Berlin.

It takes place on a stage with objects on the floor and on the wall. By the side of the stage is a small band consisting of a drummer and a flute player. An important role in the performance is the video character Jörgen.

In the first half of the performance Sæbjörnsson leads a conversation with Jörgen. He is stubborn and does not want to answer any intelligent questions. He likes to sing songs such as “The Elephant Song” or “The Abba Song”. He is interested in enjoying himself. The questions posed are to do with how tall he is or how many feet and hands he has and why he likes music but Jörgen is not interested in answering those questions. In between the conversation the Egill and Jörgen sing songs with help from the little band on the stage.

In the second half of the piece Jörgen falls asleep and the stage turns into a place of visual illusions and effects where the world stops being as clean cut and turns more abstract.

The first part is remeniscent of childrens´ theatre but in the second part the performance takes an unexpected change of direction with it´s surreal style including visual illusions and references to art history. The second and more serious part gives puts the whole work into different perspective, sheding a whole new light on the first half. The combination of the two styles creates a tension and a contradictory mood.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Site Specific

STEINKUGEL, 2014A permanent video installation at Robert Koch Institute, Berlin

Concrete wall with a ball 650 x 530 x 120 cm & a self generative videoprogram projection.The projector is stored in a ventilated hi-tech box on top of a 6m high plinth, some 15m away from the wall.The work was chosed from a closed competition of ten selected artists.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Site Specific

KASKADEN, 2014Permanent video installation for the Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen, Germany

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Site Specific

A NIGHT TURNS INTO DAY, 2011

An site specific Video Installation at studio and home of Lisa de Kooning & Willem de Kooning, New YorkInitiated by Lisa de Kooning and Robert Wilson.

Three channel video installation with sound, developed during a three week stay at the studio. The work was made specificly for the garden using a stone bed installed there by de Kooning had some thirty years ago.

Around thirty bolders lay in arch shaped soenebed in the garden of the Long Island studio of Willem de Kooning and Lisa de Kooning. The stones are being lit up with different shapes and colors, changing patterns as if a different dimensions existed within them using three video projectors located in the building. A recoding of the insects´ sounds from the surrounding were used to create the accompanying sound - their noices turned into a type of music.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Site Specific

GUGGI, 2010An in-situ installation with a single channel video projection and sound

Projected onto the wall of The Guggenheim Museum New YorkCommissioned by Alan S. & Christina MacDonaldDuration: 35:00 min

Guggi is a character living in a room inside the neighbor’s building. Guggi is our imagined personality. We watch him from our veranda. No one knows him but us. He is a fiction, but nevertheless real, since thoughts and words are as real as objects or beings - aren’t they sometimes?

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Site Specific

THE BUILDER INSIDE THE STAIRCASE, 2010An in-situ piece at a private home as a part of “Coup de Ville” organised by Jan Hoet and Stef van Bellingen with WARP in Sint Niklaas, Belgium 2010

Single channel video projection and sound.

The title symbolically refers to an ‘occupied city’. The projection, within a livingroom of a family home, shows a ping pong ball rolling in and out of the door and occasionally a hand holding a hammer, a foot or a head sticks out of the door, indicating a builder that might be some sort of a character of the small door or a “spirit” living in the house. The evoking and implantation of the character into the corner transforms it into a place where a possible story could occur.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Conversational

THE EGG OR THE HEN, US OR THEM, 2011

Installation view - Kunstlerhaus Bremen, Germany49 stones made of different materials, tripple channel video projection and multichannel sound installation Duration: 00:37 min

“STONES - in his latest work Egill Sæbjörnsson takes a very different view of this lifeless mass of rocks. He enables it to lead a life of its own, thereby enabling us to become observers of their peculiar little world. The exhibition space is densely populated with talking and singing stones. They engage in dialogue and exchange views about their essence, their desires and their dreams. In doing so they exhibit altogether human features, and finally join together in song. Nothing is as expected in this fantastic universe. Yet is it not perhaps a kind of projection of our ideas of things that differs from the usual projection? Here, art candidly exposes itself as a tool for exploring and enriching the world. Play and experiment, humour and earnestness melt together and a new microcosm opens up.”

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Conversational

WALL TO WALL, 2008-2009

in collaboration with Karolin TampereHISK, Gent

Two video projections show two individual characters talking to each other about their lives and experiences as two walls in this space. They discuss what they see in the room: a Donald Judd sculpture, a Harry Potter poster and a kid sitting at a table relentlessy serfing the Internet. They also see people coming into the room. As they talk about these topics, their appearances change. When they talk about Harry Potter, they change into Harry Potter and when talking about Judd, they start to look like the sculpture. They also talk about the Neanderthals man and the Abominanble Snowman. They wonder what the people in the room are doing, and they wonder if they themselves are real, or if they are just playing the role in a play written by a group of people.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Conversational

YOU TAKE ALL MY TIME, 2002 - 2003

An installation with objects, a double channel video projection and sound and alive performance.

The work is an installation based on a song written by Sæbjörnsson. He performs the song on the stage, or the piece runs like a karaoke machine without a performer.

The installation is programmed to work around a song, the bush in the front tries to sing along, the minstrel show-guys appear in the background and join in for backing vocals, a giant bumble bee passes through and disturbs the song, an aeroplane passes by and drops an atom bomb on the Tom Sawyer-like landscape in the back. No one gets hurt. The song and the work itself are about a state of mind. It is about how half of our existence seems to be predetermined by our selves. It is about our projections onto life, about our fears and hopes, reality and dream. Sometimes they say that what appears to be life is actually half a dream state. The piece is about how we deal with these dilemmas in society and in our personal life.

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

Conversational

MR PIANO & MRS PILE, 2004

An installation with a synchronized double channel video projection, objects and sound.

Dimensions variableDuration: 36 minutes

Synopsis:The piece is like a theatre piece. The audience can walk amongst Mr Piano and Mrs Pile as if they were walking on a stage amidst the actors. Two shapes cut out in MDF stand on the floor, one representing Mr Piano and the other Mrs Pile. They lead a conversation about themselves and their world, which at first appears to be limited to the exhibition space and the objects around them. Mr Pianco suffers from existential crisis. He thinks he is not real or that he is just a projection. Mrs Pile answers “Well aren’t we Mr Piano?”.