Works

About

Performance The Mind II
Photos: © | Egill Sæbjörnsson & Marcia Moraes

The Mind Project is about the phenomenon mind. The mind doesn’t have a shape, and we don’t know if it is inside us or if it is a part of the universe. Conscience is also a complicated phenomenon and we work with that as well. It is not about a relationship between two persons. It is more the relationship of a person with her/himself and with society in general. The idea of the performance came about as Marcia and Egill were talking in a cafe downtown on Leblon in Rio where she comes from. They came up with this idea of a play/performance/concert where The Mind would be “illustrated” or “clarified”. The mind can be anything. It can be a wind in the air. It can be words appearing in the room with a video projection, it can be shown in a conversation. It can be talked about in a scientific way. The performance blend things from Theater, visual arts and music and ideas that they have heard or read in books. 

The Mind I, II, III (Editing), video: © | Egill Sæbjörnsson & Marcia Moraes

The Mind I

Performance The Mind I, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin / Germany, 2009
Photos: © | Egill Sæbjörnsson & Maria Moraes

A white stage, empty apart from a single chair and a microphone on a stand, is what the audience sees at the beginning of the performance. Suddenly, white stripes start running over the stage as a video projection. A person sealed under a large bedcover walks around so that the lines break up on this figure and the wall behind. The lines disappear and instead we see circles radiating from the head of the person. Sounds like falling drops are perfectly matched to the appearance of new circles, which begin on the person’s hidden face and quickly and regularly expand outward. At a certain point the person is revealed.

The person sits by the unlit wall, so that everything looks quite dark. All of a sudden, a form is projected onto the person. It twists and turns here and there and the person has to change position in order to follow it.

The “game” is eventually over and the person sits still on the chair. Two eyes appear as a video projection beside the person. Then a mouth appears under the two gazing eyes.

The person on the chair and the persona in the video projection start talking to one another. We find out that there is a fundamental difference between them, although we might guess that they are two voices inside the same person. The one projected on the wall, with two eyes made out of coconuts, is rather hyperactive and insists on doing things, like talking, singing.

The person on the chair tries to shut the other one out because he or she is trying to contemplate. They almost get into a fight and both claim to have the right to be the way they are. Eventually the persona on the wall disappears, and colored circles start running over the stage. The person on the stage walks to the side of the stage, grabs an electric guitar, and goes to the microphone and sings a song. A parrot appears in the background and makes noises. When the song is over, a video projection shows a red ball flying out of a basket to the side, and the person turns it into a real ball that starts bouncing.

Espaço Cinematheque, Rio de Janeiro / Brazil, 2008
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin / Germany, 2009

The Mind II

Performance The Mind II, Sequences Real-Time Art Festival, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik / Iceland, 2009
Photos: Einar Snorri © Einar Snorri | Egill Sæbjörnsson & Marcia Moraes

With The Mind II Sæbjörnsson and Moraes explore the phenomenon of the conscience or the mind. The mind does not possess a fixed form, it cannot be localized. Yet as a notion, it can be anything – a breeze, a word in space, a conversation. On stage it appears as the video projection of a face with two eyes and a mouth. A person enters into a dialog with this phenomenon, revolving around the person’s relationship to himself and society in general.

Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, Berlin / Germany, 2009
Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik / Iceland, 2009

The Mind III

Performance The Mind III, The Tragedy of the Applause – Roubaix, Roubaix / France, 2009
Photos: Phile Depez © Phile Depez| Egill Sæbjörnsson & Marcia Moraes

For the happening-exhibition “The Tragedy of the Applause – Roubaix”, OHNO COOPERATION operated in the guise of a duo of curators and artists. They have invited Rombout Willems, Nicolas Field, Fritz Welch, Egill Sæbjörnsson & Marcia Moraes, Liquid Architecture & Thomas Lélu and together they asked themselves why pop music has never called itself into question. In 26th, 27th and 28th November 2009 there were three days of sensory performance, when artists produced work based on the question of the creation and perception of pop music. What remains are traces – sounds and images – which could be seen in the form of an exhibition at La Condition Publique in Roubaix.

What the artists taking part have in common is that they ‘observe’ pop music. The questions they ask are those that real pop musicians never ask: ‘What is the meaning of a microphone? What is the meaning of feedback? Why do pop musicians all use the same lighting? Why do we all know the first three words of a pop song, but never what comes next? The artists and/or musicians involved were invited to perform new songs and compositions and to improvise for the audience at La Condition Publique in the course of three evenings, with all the performers as musicians. Stubborn creatures who briefly subject themselves to each other’s hopeful musical ideas.

Roubaix / France, 2009

The Mind IV

Performance The Mind IV
Photos: © | Egill Sæbjörnsson & Marcia Moraes

Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main / Germany, 2010
Museum for Contemporary Arts, Roskilde / Denmark, 2010
The Istituto Svizzero di Roma, Rome / Italy, 2011

The Crying Ladies

Performance The Crying Ladies, Sassa Trülzsch Gallery, Berlin / Germany 2010
Photos: Marcus Werner © Marcus Werner | Sæbjörnsson & Moraes

The world is bigger than you think

What got you here won’t get you there

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON & MARCIA MORAES»What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There« (UA)Performance | Installation Montag, 21. März 2011, 22 Uhr Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin | Aktionsraum Invalidenstr. 50-51, 10557 Berlin
EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON & MARCIA MORAES»What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There« (UA)Performance | Installation Montag, 21. März 2011, 22 Uhr Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin | Aktionsraum Invalidenstr. 50-51, 10557 Berlin
EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON & MARCIA MORAES»What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There« (UA)Performance | Installation Montag, 21. März 2011, 22 Uhr Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin | Aktionsraum Invalidenstr. 50-51, 10557 Berlin
EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON & MARCIA MORAES»What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There« (UA)Performance | Installation Montag, 21. März 2011, 22 Uhr Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin | Aktionsraum Invalidenstr. 50-51, 10557 Berlin
EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON & MARCIA MORAES»What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There« (UA)Performance | Installation Montag, 21. März 2011, 22 Uhr Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin | Aktionsraum Invalidenstr. 50-51, 10557 Berlin
EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON & MARCIA MORAES»What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There« (UA)Performance | Installation Montag, 21. März 2011, 22 Uhr Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin | Aktionsraum Invalidenstr. 50-51, 10557 Berlin

The title of the project “what got you here, won’t get you there” is taken from a self help book and refers to how people try to improve something in their life. In a way we always keep improving and changing everything, including our view upon music. And it also refers to dramaturgy where one part comes after the other, where unrelated things are brought together a little bit like in Robert Rauschenberg’s “combines” from the 1960’s. In this project we will use everything as notation. Every single movement or form that appears is directly seen as a music score. As music exists without sound as a score written on paper we will pursue that aspect into our view on the show. In his art installations Egill blends video projections with objects in a way that sometimes evokes questions about notation. In his performances he often mixes music with spoken text and playing with objects. And in his music he explores both more traditional ways of song composing with pop music as well as working with classical contemporary music and visual score. Most of the times these different aspects of looking at what music is not combined and that is our starting point; the different ways to approach music in one performance. “What got you here won’t get you here”, refers to the constant motion of life, to the constant motion of our mind, of how everything changes and embraces the time element of music and performance of part A, B and C in a song and of the different seasons of the year etc. As the title indicates “What got you here wont get you there” we will work with breaking the expectations of the audience. We might start with something that looks like a typical piano concert but then suddenly the leg under the piano breaks and a confusing situation builds up. In this way we dialoge with the performance in the sence of using all senses in a complex setup. But the music is not only seen as the audible parts but will be investigated as visual scores where we use objects that are moved around and lit up to create trajetory of movement from one object to the next. A great inspiration is the piece “Lauf der Dinge” by Fischli and Weiss where one thing comes after the other. At some point we might be silently using visual material to “create music” and in another part we might place a person wearing a white t-shirt playing folk guitar and sing. We like the tension between different appearences and presentations of the music. Notes on paper is not the same as the same notes played by an instrument and is also something else than the recording of that live performance. Performance and the space that it has created within visual arts and connected different fields together is an important issue for us. Everything from Pollock dripping his paint on the canvas making the action an integrated part of the end product the painting itself we are keen on exploring these areas between different known “genders”such as music, visual art, theater, philosophy, video art etc.

Creation / Direction: Egill Sæbjörnsson and Marcia Moraes
Videos: Egill Sæbjörnsson
Music composition: Egill Sæbjörnsson, Áki Ásgeirsson and Magnús Jensson
Arrangements: Áki Ásgeirsson and Egill Sæbjörnsson

Performers:
Voice and guitar: Egill Sæbjörnsson
Adapter Ensemble für Neue Musik:
Flutes – Kristjana Helgadóttir
Piano & keyboards – Marc Tritschler
Percussion – Matthias Engler
Sound effects: Steinunn Arnardóttir and Leópold Kristjánsson

Lights: Roland Hamilton
Architectural drawing: Magnús Jensson
3D animation: Thomas Heidtmann
Sculpture / installation manufacture: Katharina Kamph, Karoline Kreissl and Pablo Fernandez
Production assistance: Manuela Altmann and Maria Ebbinghaus
Curators: Ingrid Buschmann and Gabriele Knapstein

The Passion According to G.H.

Performance The Passion According to G.H., Festival Escrita na Paisagem, Évora / Portugal 2011
Photos: Egill Sæbjörnsson

The interdisciplinary project is based on the text of the brazilian writer Clarice Lispector. The performance was created in collaboration between the performer and stage director Marcia Moraes (Brazil) and the musician and artist Egill Sæbjörnsson (Iceland). The project has the participation of Teresa Montero (Brazil) as a consultant in the work of Clarice Lispector. The show had debut in Portugal during the Festival Escrita na Paisagem in a short format of 35 minutes. 

The Passion According to G.H. shows the identity crisis of a woman, G.H., triggered by the violent encounter with a cockroach. The encounter with this being disgusting, but at least, causes a profound shock to the woman´s world, which starts well, a trip to the interior of itself, in search of “her” truth. A fascinating work, exemplifying the literary and artistic creation as a place that gives the appearance of other worlds, or myths.

Conception: Marcia Moraes
Dramaturgy & Text Adaptation: Marcia Moraes, Teresa Montero and Ingibjörg Magnadóttir
Direction & Performarce: Marcia Moraes and Ingibjörg Magnadóttir
Video Art & Music: Egill Sæbjörnsson

On the Beach

Apoio do Minc Ministério da Cultura do Brasil

Performance On the Beach, Jerome Robbins Theater

The Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) and The Watermill Center are pleased to present On The Beach at the Jerome Robbins Theater. Inspired by the seminal opera Einstein on the Beach by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass, and in celebration of its 35th anniversary, Mr. Wilson has selected five teams of emerging artists to re-interpret sections of this 20th century masterpiece. The artists, all of whom have been in residence at Wilson’s Watermill Center on Long Island, NY, are from around the world, work in a variety of disciplines, and some have not collaborated previously.
These artists have created new works inspired by five different sections of the seminal opera Einstein on the Beach, which was originally created in 1976 by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass and is currently being reprised worldwide—including a Brooklyn Academy of Music engagement in September. Four scenes and the Knee Plays are the sources of inspiration for this work. On The Beach celebrates a new generation of artists and their reactions to an opera that is widely recognized as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century.They are: Jonah Bokaer (choreographer, dancer, NYC) and Davide Balliano(visual and performance artist, Italy); Degenerate Art Ensemble(performance company, Seattle); Manuela Infante (theater director, Chile) and Santiago Taccetti (visual artist, Argentina); Steven Reker & People Get Ready (choreographer, dancer, and musician, NYC); and Egil Saebjornsson(visual artist, Iceland) and Marcia Moraes (theater director, choreographer and performer, Brazil).

Concept: Marcia Moraes / Egill Sæbjörnsson
Direction/ Script/ Dramaturgy: Marcia Moraes
Video art: Egill Saebjornsson

3D animation art: Michael Glen
costumes: Hrafnhildur Arnardottir aka Shoplifter
Movement direction/Choreography: Marcia Moraes
Composer/Music Direction/ Arrangements: Arash Safaian
Text Interlude II: Nora Gomringer, Marcia Moraes and Egill Saebjornsson
Text Interlude IV: Christopher Knowles
Text Interlude V: Egill Saebjonsson 

Corporeal Mime Choreography: Selma Trevino
Aerial direction/ choreography: Grounded Aerial, Karen A. Fuhrman
Aerial Rigging Design: Grounded Aerial, Aaron Verdery
performer / actor: Jon Morris
performer / actress: Laura Butler Rivera
performer/ soprano: Gabriela Geluda
performer /bass-baritone: Claudio Mascarenhas
violin player: Unnur Sveinbjarnardottir 

manager assistant: Janine Hegarty
assistants: Catherine A Pishal, Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li and David Jordan Chlapecka
costume assistants: Julian Jesus , Janelle Abbott and Elizabeth Ammerman

Music composition on the basis of Philip Glass original music “Einstein on the beach” Interlude III -free adaptation of the choreography “Table , Chair and Glass” by Thomas Leabhart.