Egill Sæbjörnsson, the artist previously announced as representing Iceland at this year’s Venice Biennale, says he will no longer be doing so. Instead Egill has requested that two 36-metre trolls of his acquaintance take his place. While it is estimated that Ūgh and Bõögâr are over a thousand years old, the duo, who will show a new body of work, are artworld newcomers. Though their precise origins are unknown, conjecture is that they either evolved from lava or the pair used to be human, but could could not deal with the inherent trauma. Further biographical information can be found here (pdf download).
Egill met Ūgh and Bõögâr by chance in 2008: they live in a cave in the remote countryside of Iceland originally only venturing into the more populated areas to feed on naughty children. Since their unlikely friendship however the trolls have started to both assist and work independently in Egill’s studio.
Björg Stefánsdóttir, director of the Icelandic Art Center, said: ‘In recent years, the Icelandic Pavilion has frequently been a venue for dissolving social constructs – whether they be ideologies, nationalist sentiments or the myth of the artist. This tradition continues with Out of Controll in Venice, where the boundary between the real and the imagined completely dissolves as we are drawn into the enthralling and ferocious realm of two trolls.’
Despite the artists’ unique diet, Björg would not comment on what food will be served at the pavilion vernissage.
In one 1998 survey, 54.4 percent of Icelanders said they believed in the existence of elves. The difference between trolls and elves remains elusive to ArtReview however.
1 February 2017
