Ragnar Kjartansson

Ragnar Kjartansson is an Icelandic contemporary artist, born in 1976 in Reykjavik, whose multidisciplinary work blends performance, video, music, painting, and installation. Known for his deeply immersive and emotionally resonant pieces, Kjartansson often explores themes of repetition, endurance, melancholy, and the intersection of joy and sorrow. His work frequently combines elements of theater, music, and visual art, creating immersive experiences that reflect on the human condition. Humor and irony are also central to his practice, often serving to balance the emotional depth of his subject matter.One of Kjartansson's most iconic works is The Visitors (2012), a video installation that features a group of musicians playing a single song in various rooms of a large, decaying mansion. The piece is celebrated for its moving portrayal of collaboration, intimacy, and isolation, as each musician performs separately but in harmony with the others. The work captures Kjartansson’s signature themes of beauty and melancholy, as well as his interest in durational performance, inviting viewers to lose themselves in the haunting, repetitive music and the visual elegance of the setting.Kjartansson is also known for his endurance-based performances, where repetition is used to create meaning and emotional impact. In The End (2009), exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Kjartansson painted portraits of his friend over a period of six months, every day, within a small, confined space. The endurance of the artist, and the ritualistic act of painting the same subject repeatedly, underlined his interest in the persistence of human emotion and the ways in which artistic creation can reflect the passage of time and life itself.Another notable work, A Lot of Sorrow (2013-2014), was a collaboration with the band The National, who performed their song Sorrow continuously for six hours at MoMA PS1. This work exemplifies Kjartansson’s fascination with how repetition alters perception and emotion, transforming a simple pop song into an extended meditation on longing, loss, and the human experience.Kjartansson has exhibited widely in prestigious institutions around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and the Venice Biennale. His work continues to captivate audiences with its blend of theatricality, music, and visual art, creating powerful, immersive environments that explore the complexity of human emotions. By drawing from personal and collective narratives, Kjartansson invites viewers to reflect on the beauty and pain of existence, making him one of the most compelling contemporary artists working today.