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Egill Sæbjörnsson & Infinite Friends Of The Universe, published by Argobooks in collaboration with The National Gallery of Iceland, explores visual artist Egill Sæbjörnsson’s practice through his prolific worldmaking and universe of characters. The book is the first document to archive his 40-plus characters together, spanning 3D environments, digital projections, AI works, sculpture, video works, drawings, performances, and sound works that extend from and embody his Magma to Mankind and Object Species tenets.

Featured are the first appearances of Pig and Rat (Sæbjörnsson’s never-before-shown collaboration with his brother, Kristján Oddur Sæbjörnsson), Guðmundur B. Jónasson (a collaboration with his mother, the visual artist Ágústa Oddsdóttir, who is the author of Art Can Heal published by Koenig Books), a site-specific video installation of his character Guggi who lives in the Guggenheim Museum, the large-scale video installation The Egg or The Hen, Us or Them comprised of 49 stones that talk and sing, The Lizzard, and, of course, his infamous friends Ugh and Boogar who are best known for their takeover of the 2017 57th Venice Biennale when Sæbjörnsson represented the Icelandic Pavillion, alongside dozens more of their friends.

Egill Sæbjörnsson & Infinite Friends Of The Universe debuted at The National Gallery of Iceland on the 14th of October, 2023, and is on view until the 25th of February, 2024. Curated by Arnbjörg María Danielsen, the show encompasses the wider spectrum of Sæbjörnsson’s artistic practice (including sculpture, video, drawing, lecture performance, merchandise, bookmaking, and music) and represents the full depth of his worldmaking and characters present together in one show.

For the exhibition, further exploring Object Species and his worldmaking, Sæbjörnsson debuted two new self-generative sculptures (“Macho Sculpture From the 80’s” and “Macho Sculpture From the 50’s”), a collaboration between Mideind (currently leading the digitization of the Icelandic language) and his imaginary Troll friends Ugh and Boogar, three new Troll iPhone app-works featuring Ugh, Boogar, and their older sister Gubb (played by Peaches), and a new set of one-metre tall Troll Crayons.