The Macho Sculptures

Description:

We see "a rather typical sculpture from the later part of the 20th century" standing in the room. As we approach it and walk around it, some small shutters seem to open and close in a never repeating manner on it's surface. 

Thoughts behind the work:

Macho Sculpture from the 80's is in a line of works that are self generative and computer game-engine driven, that Egill Sæbjörnsson started developing in 2011. 

In Macho Sculpture from the 80's Egill Sæbjörnsson explores mixing a digital dimension with a physical sculpture, giving "a rather typical looking sculpture from the later part of the 20th Century" a new dimensions. 

In this work Egill Sæbjörnsson also investigates sculpture as an independent, non-human entity with it's own agency. Sculptures usually are perceived as passive, non mobile and stale bodies, that are obedient to the viewer. By giving it movement with the self generative video projections with never repeating opening and closing shutters, Egill Sæbjörnsson gives it a performative voice. 

In a lecture performance, held at The Ham-burger Bahnhof, museum für Gegenwart in Berlin in 2021, Egill Sæbjörnsson explained the idea of an Object Species, that evolves, multiplies and maintains itself with the coexistence with Humans and other non-human entities. 

The name of the work: "Macho Sculpture from the 80's", is a pun on the strong masculine driven and capitalist driven art-works that Egill Sæbjörnsson thinks his generation grew up with. The look of the sculpture, it's material and shape, refers to typical sculptures, usually made by modernist male artists, in the second half of the 20th century. But that look and the name of the work, is more like a disguise, that can be broken up to new dimensions, showing that sculptures exist in their own way, as independent creatures, having many different dimensions, that were not implied by the artist, but can be discovered and used, regardless of the intention of the artists that created them. As Egill Sæbjörnsson says: "the audience is supposed to think that they are seeing a typical large and heavy sculpture from someone like Richard Serra or Henry Moore, but then, they discover a totally different reality to them". 

The work also explores the digital dimension in our contemporary era, that seems to interweave into most our daily activities. The work merges the dimension of an old school physical sculpture, with a digitally generated dimension that is projected onto it. The work is a mix of the digital and the physical, the physical and the mental and with a dash of humour that is typical for Egill Sæbjörnsson's works since the mid 1990's. 

Artwork Information:

Title: Macho Sculpture from the 80's

Materials: Self-generative video projection with a Unity3D game engine, plaster, wood, styrofoam

Dimensions of sculpture object: 280cm x 110cm x 70cm

Duration: endless

The works have been exhibited at:

Egill Sæbjörnsson & Infinite Friends of the Universe

Solo show at The National Gallery of Iceland

2023-2024

Categories:

Self Generative works

Sculptures