Art: Sæbjörnsson goes to the Biennale

The Icelandic Arts Centre has announced that artist Egill Sæbjörnsson will be representing Iceland at the Venice Biennale in collaboration with curator Stephanie Böttcher.

Sæbjörnsson is an Icelandic artist born in 1973 who works both in Reykjavik and Berlin. He graduated from the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts (now the Icelandic Academy of the Arts) in 1997 and studied at the University of Paris, St.Denis, from 1995 to 1996.

Sæbjörnsson is interested in the connection between the mental reality and the physical reality; in the mere connection between what we think and what is happening in the world around us. One can say that, in his work, this is indicated by the projected videos onto objects. The videos can be perceived as the thoughts or the mental reality and the objects as the physical reality or vice versa. We constantly project our thoughts onto the world, just like we record the world through our senses. Humor and perhaps a sense of magic or other elements, such as music, which acquire an openness to interpretation on different levels is somewhat how Sæbjörnsson approaches his work.

The Venice Biennale is one of the oldest and most prestigious art events in the world, founded in 1895. Iceland has been a participant in the Biennale since 1960. The next biennale takes place in 2017.