Iceland review - 2016, Page 14

12 ICELAND REVIEW
This spring, the Icelandic Art
Center announced that artist Egill
Sæbjörnsson had been chosen to rep-
resent Iceland next year at one of the
world’s most esteemed art events: the
Venice Biennale. “This is a great recogni-
tion and definitely one of the highlights
of my career,” says Egill. At this early
stage, he wouldn’t reveal much about
his project, except that, “I’m creating a
world in which the two main characters
are trolls. Their world is still growing.”
A R T
Egill Sæbjörnsson will represent Iceland at the 57th Venice Biennale next year.
BY VALA HAFSTAÐ. PHOTOS BY HUBERT KEMPER.
BLURRING THE LINE BETWEEN
REAL AND IMAGINARY
Forty-three-year-old Egill, who was
born in Reykjavík, has made Berlin
his home for the past 17 years. He’s a
1997 graduate of the Icelandic College
of Arts and Crafts (now called the
Icelandic Academy of the Arts) and also
studied at the University of Paris, St.
Denis, from 1995 to 1996.
In his work, Egill frequently com-
Kaskade, 2014,
video projection/light art installation.
Copyright Egill Sæbjörnsson/Kunstmuseum Ahlen.
MASTER OF ILLUSION
bines real objects with video, projecting
images, light and sound onto objects,
creating a trompe-l’œil, thereby blurring
the line between what is and what we
perceive to be.
He has held countless solo and group
exhibitions the world over, in addition
to events and performances. In 2010,
he was nominated for the Carnegie Art
Award for Kugeln (‘Balls’), his traveling
show in the Scandinavian countries.
MUSEUM METAMORPHOSIS
Egill’s public works of art include
Steinkugel (‘Stone Ball’) at the Robert
Koch Institute in Berlin and Kaskade
(‘Cascade’) at Kunstmuseum Ahlen,
Germany. The former work is a
true trompe-l’œil, where a stationary,
smooth-surfaced concrete ball on a wall
is transformed into a turning one with
a rough surface at night, as a deceptive
video image is projected onto the wall.
With blue lines of light, the latter one
(pictured) creates the semblance of a
waterfall, cascading down the walls of
the art museum building. As night falls,
the building, with a gray, wave-shaped
roof, is in essence transformed into a
spectacle of streaming water. From a
mast across the street, an image of lines
moving downward is projected, creating
the metamorphosis. Occasionally, the
straight lines bend, prompting a door
in the waterfall to open and a cartoon
character of a girl to emerge with a
hammer, straightening the lines.
If his previous work is anything to go
by, regardless of his subject matter in
Venice, Egill will succeed, once again, in
being a master of illusion. u