EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

eingeladen von Euridice Arratia

29. April 2006, 11 – 15 Uhr

Der isländische Musiker und Performance-Künstler Egill Sæbjörnsson (*1973) hat auf Einladung der New Yorker Kuratorin Euridice Arratia für die Berliner Bibliothekswohnung der Kuratorin und Autorin Anna-Catharina Gebbers eine neue Performance entwickelt.

In Sæbjörnssons Arbeiten finden sich häufig Parallelen zu Samuel Becketts Theaterstücken. Kulturelle Vorlagen und Konzepte dienen ihm als eine Art „Roh-Material“. Kernstück dieser Vier-Stunden-Präsentation im häuslichen Ambiente ist der „Song for the Houses“, den Sæbjörnsson für diesen Anlass komponiert hat und den er auf dem sich in der Wohnung befindlichen Klavier vorträgt. Dazu hat der Künstler eine Animation entwickelt, die auf die Wand über dem Klavier projiziert wird und mit der Sæbjörnsson während seines Vortrages interagiert. Die animierten Instrumente und Haushaltsgegenstände führen eine Art Ballet Mechanique auf, das ebenso von der Goldenen Vergangenheit der Roaring Twenties erzählt, die die Friedrichstraße einst erlebte wie die ehrgeizige Gegenwart der Berliner Republik widerspiegelt. Derweil geben zwei in Primärfarben gekleidete Tischtennis-Spieler im Innenhof der Plattenbau-Wohnanlage fast Metronom-artig einen Rhythmus der Modernen Zeiten vor. Flankiert wird die Darbietung von in der Wohnung verteilten Installationen.

Im „Song for the Houses“ stehen die Häusern der Vorkriegszeit und die derzeit die Umgebung prägenden Plattenbauten metaphorisch für die einst und heute hier lebenden Menschen. Sæbjörnsson hat ihnen mit diesem Lied eine Hymne gewidmet, die er wie ein modernes Friedrichstadtpalast-Musical en Miniature mit Exposition (mit Wasser „geflutetes“ Klavier, ein scheinbar abstrahiertes Aquarium), Höhepunkt (Song, bei dem das Klavier regulär als Instrument genutzt wird) und Schluss-Akt (Staubsauger-Reinigung des Klaviers) in der Wohnung inszeniert. Die drei Verwendungs-Varianten des Klaviers können als stellvertretend für das Klavier als das musikalische Symbol der westlichen Welt interpretiert werden – ein Gedanke, aufgrund dessen insbesondere in den 1960er Jahren zahlreiche Komponisten das Klavier auf neue Weise einzusetzen versuchten. Darüber hinaus verbinden sich in Sæbjörnssons Performance auftauchend aus den und wieder verschwindend in die Tiefen des Pianos die animierten Gegenstände und Ereignisse der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart zu einer durchgängigen Melodie der Geschichte. Musikalisch beraten wurde Sæbjörnsson dabei von dem Bostoner Komponisten Jeremy Woodruff und dem in Washington geborenen Schlagzeuger Evans Nierenz.

Angelegt in drei Akten beträgt die Dauer der Einzel-Performance etwa 12-15 Minuten. Die Aufführung wird im Verlauf des Tages regelmäßig wiederholt; sie unterliegt damit zum einen den Schwankungen des Vortrags, zum anderen aber auch den mit unterschiedlichen Publikumsgrößen wechselnden Ton-Bedingungen, die in dem aus Stahlbeton hergestellten Klangraum der Wohnung herrschen.

Die Performance wird von der Berliner Filmemacherin Eva Könnemann dokumentiert.

Anna-Catharina Gebbers

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON

1973 born in Reykjavik, Iceland

1995 - 1996 Université Paris 8. St.Denis. France

1993 - 1997 The Icelandic College of Arts and Craft. Reykjavik

Solo Exhibitions

2006 Anna-Catharina Gebbers | Bibliothekswohnung, Berlin, Germany

2004 Monkey Music, Museum of Modern Art. Skopje, Macedonia
2004 The Sofa, Reykjavik Art Museum. Reykjavik, Iceland

2003 In the garden, Slunkariki. Isafjordur, Iceland

2003 You Take All My Time, Visual Research Centre, Cooper Art Gallery, Dundee Contemporary

Arts. Dundee, Scotland

2003 The Happy Science, The bar at Dundee Contemporary Arts. Dundee, Scotland

2002 Unnar & Egill Ny Verk. Kopavogur Art-museum. Ny Verk. With Unnar Orn Jonasson, Iceland

2002 Unnar & Egill New Work. Westwerk Hamburg, Germany

2002 Island Hoch Festival, Frisör BEIGE, Auguststr. 83, Berlin

2000 Homebuddah. Galleri hlemmur, The wall, Reykjavik, Iceland

2000 New Work. Oneooone galleri, Reykjavik

2000 DFKU. Odense, Denmark

1999 Catgarden, Gallery Urban Issue, Berlin

1999 Gallerie Schallschutz. With Ingirafn Steinarsson & Maggi Logi, Hanover, Germany

1998 Dangerous Liaisons, Gallery Fish. With Hreinn Fridfinnsson, Reykjavik, Iceland

1998 Gulp-song. Gallery Gulp, Reykjavik, Iceland

1998 Stone. Cafe Mokka, Reykjavik, Iceland

1998 Clay-horses. Gallery 20 m, Reykjavik, Iceland

1997 Black Thousand Kronur Bill. Gallery Geysir, Reykjavik, Iceland

1996 Up & Down. Gallery Kælir, Reykjavik, Iceland

1996 Burn Baby Burn. Gallery Gulp, Reykjavik, Iclenad

Group Exhibitions

2006 The Endless Summer. Curated by Gyonata Bonvicini. West London Projects, London, Great Britain

2005 Living Art Museum. Reykjavik, Iceland

2005 The Museum of Modern Art in Sydney, Australia

2004 New Tendencies. The National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

2004 Not in Heaven and Not on Earth. Museum of Modern Art, Skopje, Macedonia

2004 Our House is A House That Moves. Curated by Natasa Petresin. Scuc Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2004 Sons and dottiers. TENT - Center for visual Arts Rotterdam Witte de Withstraat, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2004 Cold Climate. Finnish, British and Icelandic Artists. APT Gallery, 6 Creek Side, Deptford, London

2004 Frishespores and Molekules. Sparwasser, Offensive for contemporary art and communication, Berlin,

Germany

2004 Berlin-North. Contemporary Artists from the Nordic Countries in Berlin. Hamburger Bahnhof – National gallery.

Berlin, Germany

2004 Instructions. Kunstalle Wien, Austria

2003 Behind the Eyes. Bergen Kunstalle, Norway

2003 Hreinn Fridfinnsson - overview. Collaboration piece „Fish“. Safn-Museum for contemporary art. Reykjavik, Iceland

2003 Rotko – St.Petersburg. Russia

2003 Electric Currents. Video art program. St-Petersburg. Russia

2003 DISSONANZE 2003, Roma, Italy

2003 Smekkleysa – BadTaste, the musiclabel. Municipal Art Museum of Reykjavik

2003 Multiplex. Language gallery. Dublin, Ireland

2003 Daria Martin – soloshow. Close-up Gallery’s film soundtrack. Gallery Analix Forever. Geneva. Switzerland

2003 ‘Inside Outliners’ – a probable anthology - Kunsthalle Lophem Belgium (curator Roland Patteeuw)

2003 A – clip. A micro invention in cinema space. Berlin, London, Los Angeles

2003 Sex and politics. Videoprogram organised by Gallery G.U.N for Gallery F15. Oslo

2003 Southbound – Berlin based artists from the Nrodic countries – in collaboration with hamburger Bahnhof and

Nifca, Berlin, Germany

2002 14 islenskir listamenn verda ser til skammar. Ljosarvirkjun, Iceland

2002 Here and now. Buro Friedrich, Berlin, Germany

2002 5 Kuenstler aus Skandinavien, Galerie Georg Nothelfer, Berlin, Germany

2002 My body is over the ocean. Alma Löv Art Museum, Sweden

2001 Right about now. Screening program in connecting the exhibition Beyond Paradise. Museum of Moder

Art Stockholm, Nordic artist travel east. Stockholm, Sweden

2002 Art for Young Men. Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland

2001 Sound in Art. Gallery Priestor, Bratislava, Slovakia

2001 Blick., a travelling video program, National Gallery of Sweden in Stockholm - Nifca studios Suomenlinna

Helsinki, Stockholm, Sweden

2001 Ars01 – Third space. Kiasma - The National Gallery of Finland, Helsinki, Finland

2001 Polyphony – musicart festival - The Living Art museum in Reykjavik

2001 Pestcontrol –by Hartmut Andryczuk. Gaertnerei Kreuzberg. Berlin

2001 Call me Sarajevo. Videoexhibition. Sarajevo

2001 Fullveldi – young artists in Iceland. Kopavogur Art Museum. Iceland

2000 Shoppin & Fuckin. Groupwork of 7 Icelandic artists and the theatergroup Egg-leikhusid at The Living Art Museum. Reykjavik, Iceland

2000 Eine deutsche Einkaufspassage. Project by Hlynur Hallsson, Carsten Greife and Daniel Schurer. Kunstraum-Podbi Park-Lister. Hanover. Germany

2000 www.orb.is Icelandic web art. The Icelandic Art Museum. Cur: Bragi Halldorsson. Reykjavik

2000 Nordic. Contemporary art from the Nordic countries. Kunsthalle Wien. Austria

2000 Der Hybride Garten. Cur: Hartmut Andryczuk. Kreuzberg Gaertnerei. Berlin

2000 Flakk or that extraordinary sensation of being abroad even when at home. Part of European Cultural City 2000. The Nordic House. Reykjavik

2000 It could be obsession. Rotor – association for contemporary art, Graz Austria

2000 Orgasm2000. The Art Museumof Akureyri. Iceland

1999 The Museum House Egilsstadir. Exhibition. 20 Icelandic artists. Iceland

1999 Trace: an environmental sound installation. The Banff Center for the Arts Media and Visual Arts.

Alberta. Canada

1998 Cosmopolitan Bonsai 2. Gallery Hotel. Zurich. Switzerland

1998 Station to Station. Hungarian and Icelandic artists. The Living Art Museum. Cur: Halldor Bjorn Runolfsson and Barnabas Bensic. Reykjavik

1998 -30/60+. Icelandic artists younger than 30 and older than 60. The Municipal Art Museum of Reykjavik

1998 Nordic Poles. Lucky Thirteen project. Ms.Stubniz. Stockholm

1998 In the Flesh. Exhibition on the body. The Living Art Museum. Reykjavik

1998 The 20th Anniversary of the L.A.M. The Living Art Museum. Reykjavik

1997 Art '97. Icelandic artists – saloon show. Hafnarhusid. Reykjavik

1997 Flax. Artists from the group Luckty Thirteen. Gallery Thomas Angell Trondheim

1997 Self-portraits of Icelandic Male Artists. Cafe Mokka. Reykjavik

1996 Final exhibition of Gallery Greip. Gallery Greip. Reykjavik

1996 Icelandic Cartoons. Together with Kristjan Oddur Sæbjörnsson. Gallery Greip. Reykjavik

1995 The department of mixed media ICAC. The Living Art Museum. Reykjavik

1993 The Independent Art Festival in Reykjavik. Laugavegur 22. Reykjavik

1992 Young Art Hitt Husid.. Reykjavik

Performances, Concerts

2005 Concert Kaffe Burger. Berlin, Germany

2004Peaches – warming up act at Klink & Bank, Reykjavik

2004Fuck you Mitte. Berlin based singer/songwriters. King Kong club. AmStart. Berlin

2004Pianoperformance at the opening of Not in Heaven and Not on Earth. Museum of Modern Art. Skopje

2004Concert on the opening of Our House Is a House That Moves in Gallery Skuc, Ljubliana.

Slovenia

2004Musicperformance - Maertz music festival. Hamburger Bahnhof. Berlin

2003Four Variations of Sorrow. Performance with Ragnar Kjartansson. Municipal Art Museum of

Reykjavik

2003Four Variations of Sorrow. Performance with Ragnar Kjartansson. Gallery Kling & Bang.

Reykjavik

2003Egill S – concert. Innipukinn – musicfestival. Reykjavik

2003Egill S – concert. Municipal Art Museum of Reykjavik

2003Egill S & The Mammoths. Radioshow at Raum3. Berlin

2003Egill S – concert. Goldmund – club. Berlin

2003Rotterdam VHS-festival, Het Wilde Weten. Rotterdam. Holland

2003Egill S & The Mammoths. Concert at Signal gallery. Malmo, Sweden

2003Egill S & The Mammoths. Concert at the Golden Gate club, Berlin

2003Egill S & The Mammoths. Music performance at Buro Friedrich, Berlin

2003Egill S - Concert at Kunst und Technic. Berlin

2003Two warm up concerts for the Danish band Sort Sol in Vega in Kopenhagen, Denmark

2003You Take all My Time – performance in The Cooper Galleries at The Art college of Duncan og Jordanstone, Dundee, Scotland

2003Artist’s talk at the Art college of Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee

2003You Are My Loving Insane – VHS-Festival. Off-Corso. Rotterdam Film Festival

2003You Are My Loving Insane – VHS-Festival. CBK Rotterdam (Art Centre Rotterdam)

2002Austurbaer – concert with SKE- Reykjavik

2002Skinn og lak – performance at the opening of the Nordic Film Festival, Dundee Contemporary

Arts – Dundee – UK

2002You Take all My Time, performance in Lisa Lounge on the Stardust deluxe evening with

artists working in sound and music. Berlin

2002Musicperformance in Westwerk in connection with Unnar & Egill – Ny verk – Hamburg

2002Musicperformance in NBI – Neue Berliner Initiatif - Berlin

2002Musicperformance at Converter 2 – Music and art-festival – In collaboration with Franz Graf and Stromstrasse music label. The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik

2002Musicperformance in Café Burger – Berlin

2002Musicperformance in Knaack club – with MUM - Berlin

2002Musicperformance at BuroFriedrich opening of Here and Now - Berlin

2002Arcipelago Film Festival. You Are My Loving Insane. Rome - Italy

2002Lisa Lounge – concert with Popchor Berlin - Berlin

2002Musicperformance Berliner Festspiele. Grose Stimmgabe – part of “Island Hoch Festival” in

Berlin

2002Roter Salon – concert with Popchor Berlin - Berlin

2002 Musicperformance in Buryzone, Bratislava

2002 Musicperformance in Armani Studio. Vienna

2001Musicperformance Converter 1 - music and art festival – in collaboration with Franz Graf and Stromstrasse music label. Art academy in Vienna

2001Musicperformance in Dirk Bell club - Berlin

2001Musicperformance in Ljubliana K4 club

2001Musicperformance at Nifcastudios Suomenlinna

2001Concert in NBI club Berlin

2001Video for The Cultural night in Reykjavik.

2001Skinn og lak. Polyphony festival ar The Lving Artmuseum in Reykjavik

2001Eaglebeagle – concert at The Living Art museum Reykjavik

2001Tonk – paperconcert – With Sigurdur Gudjonsson, Asdis Sif Gunnarsdottir and Bjarni

Grimsson

2000Batofar. Artists from Nordic countires. Paris. France

2000Les boreals de Normandie. Dans I, II, III & IV. Installation and performance. France

2000The Ghosthouse. Group-performances at the Yellow House. Reykjavik

2000Broken music-performance. 50th anniversary of Halldor Bjorn Runolfsson, art critic and

historian.

2000Video-festival. Copenhagen. Denmark

2000Tricktisch 7. Café R.Z. Videonight. Berlin

2000Death Disco Club. Radiosendung am park. Live radio performance from a car. Org. by Klaus Weber. Berlin, Germany

2000 Offene Ateliers. Barkenhoff, Worpswede. Germany

2000Dans III. Festival for film. Liepaja. Kristine Briede. Lettland

2000Death on two legs. The Nordic House. Reykjavik

2000Dans III. Kunsthalle Wien. Autria

2000Dans III. Rotor. Graz. Austria

1999Rolling Snowball. Concert in Maria am Ostbahnhof with Andreas Berthling. Berlin

1999 Dans III. Performance. Goethe Institute Reykjavik Prasentiert Islandische Kultur in

Berlin. Org. by Wolfgang Mueller. Podevil. Berlin

1999The International Rock and Roll Summer of Egill Sæbjörnsson. Video/Performance. Jazz-bar-

Dinstagsbar. Berlin

1999The International Rock and Roll Summer of Egill Sæbjörnsson. CD release-party . Café

Thomsen. Reykjavik

1999 Dans III. Performance. FlitjenBar. Maria am Ostbahnhof. Berlin

1999Dans III. Performance. Kunstverein Hanover. Hanover

1999Dans III. Performance. Soirée Revue NeufNeuf. Le Frigo. Paris

1998Dans III. In the Flesh. Performance. The Reykjavik Art Festival. The Living Art Museum.

Reykjavik

1997Dance I. Performance/slides-show. Evening against drugs. The National Theater Cellar. Reykjavik

1997Card-trick. CU-SeeMe performance via Internet. Connection between the show of Tar-get in The

Living Art Museum and Screens in Trondheim. Norway

1997Fire/Desire. Performance at Café Solon Islandus. Reykjavik

1997Princess Blut. Performance. / Dance I Performance. / Video: In a Windowsill. Four days

festival. Gallery Undir Pari. Reykjavik

1996Burning down the gallery" Performance. Gallery Gulp. Hveragerdi. Iceland

1996Singing from my diary. Performance. Candid Art Gallery. London

1995Confrontations. Performance. The Nordic House. Reykjavik

1995Ob-la-di, ob-la-da. Performance – singing the Beatle’s song. The Living Art Museum.

Reykjavik

Collaborations

2003Brjalrl. Collaboration with Asdis Sif Gunnarsdottir, Sigurdur Gudjonsson, Elin Hansdottir and Sara Riel, for the exhibition Berlin North at Hamburger Bahnhof, National Galleries. Berlin

2003Four Variations of Sorrow. Performance with Ragnar Kjartansson

2003Sountrack for the film “Close-up Gallery” by artist Daria Martin (London)

2003Ping Pong D’Amour. Music for the Artist’s made TV series. Together with Klaus Weber

2000 Translation and making of music for the project Collaboration by David TV, Paris France

2000 Music shop. Project by Alexander Rishaug. Trondheim Art Museum. Norway

1999 Poster for the Hall of Fame at Dinstagsbar, Schroederstrasse. Org: Klaus Weber. Mitte Berlin

1998 Eaglethorp meets... . Internet-project. Point Project. Trondheim. Norway

1997 Lucky Thirteen. Collaboration of 12 Nordic art-students who made a travelling art-academy.

Two months travel to 12 cities in Scandinavia and Iceland.

1997 AE. The Private Art-academy. Teachers: Halldór Björn Runólfsson, Art-historian and criticer.

Oliver Kochta, artist from Hamburg. Serge Comte, artist from France. Douglas Davis, artist

from New York. Baldur Helgason, artist from Reykjavik

1997 Spela. Electro-music duo with Isak Eldh from Sweden

Works and Texts published in magazines

2000 Videostills from the video ´”Krush n’kil n’krád n’keil” by The Flower (Ingibjörg Magnadottir and Asdis Sif Gunnarsdottir) from The International Rock n'roll Summer of Egill Sæbjörnsson. Starship.Berlin

Discography

2002 Reproduced & Deper – Egill S – numbered copies - Reykjavik

2002 Safndiskur fra Smekkleysu – BadTaste - Reykjavik

2001 You Are My Loving Insane – single from Tonk of the lawn – SomeBizarre - England

2001 Death Disco Club- compilation. Klaus Weber - Berlin

2001 I´d rather shout back at... compilation CD. SomeBizarre. London UK

2001 Tonk of the lawn. UK and USA release. SomeBizarre records

2000 Tonk of the lawn. Released on Bad Taste Records in Iceland

2000 Rolling Snowball. From the exhibition Orgasm 2000 at The Art museum of Akureyri. Iceland

2000 The International Rock n’roll Summer of Egill Sæbjörnsson. Kunsthalle Wien Version.

1999 The International Rock n’roll Summer of Egill Sæbjörnsson

1997 DJ Egill. Collection of re-mixes from 1986 – 1988.

CD-ROM

2000 Kjós, Miklatún and Bollagata. 3 QTVR works

1999 Catgarden. QTVR. Berlin

1999 Urban Issue. QTVR. For Urban Issue. Berlin

1999 Potsdamer Platz. QTVR. Berlin

Videos

1998 Dans III. Animation.

Residencies, Grants

2004 Bethanien – Kunstlerhaus, Berlin. International Studio Program

2003 Artist’s working stipendium of Reykjavik’s City Counsil

2003 Myndstef. Artist’s grant

2003 The Visual Arts Stipend Fond. Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. Iceland

2003 Sleipnir

2002 Sleipnir

2002 Nordic Residencies Program. Dundee. Nifca

2000 The Visual Arts Stipend Fond. Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. Iceland.

2000 Sleipnir. Travel-grant.

2000 Barkenhoff stiftung. Kunstlerhauser Worpswede. Germany

2000 Nifca Residencies 2000. Vilnius. Lithuania

1997 NKKK. Travel grant for the project "Lucky Thirteen".

1995 Erasmus – exchange program.

Awards, Prizes

2002 Pennastyrkurinn. For the work Dance III

1997 ART '97. 2nd prize. For the work Dance II

Egill Sæbjörnsson

Poster for Performance at Bibliothekswohnung, 2006

Egill Sæbjörnsson

Installation views, Bibliothekswohnung, 2006

Egill Sæbjörnsson

Performance „Song for the Houses“ at Bibliothekswohnung, 2006

Egill Sæbjörnsson

Installation views, Bibliothekswohnung, 2006

invited by Euridice Arratia

29 April 2006, 11:00 - 15:00

Anna-Catharina Gebbers | Bibliothekswohnung, Ziegelstr. 2, 10117 Berlin

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