Ragnar Kjartansson engages multiple artistic mediums, creating video installations, performances, drawings, and paintings that draw upon myriad historical and cultural references. An underlying pathos and irony connect his works, with each deeply influenced by the comedy and tragedy of classical theater. The artist blurs the distinctions between mediums, approaching his painting practice as performance, likening his films to paintings, and his performances to sculpture. Throughout, Kjartansson conveys an interest in beauty and its banality, and he uses durational, repetitive performance as a form of exploration.
Ragnar Kjartansson (b. 1976) lives and works in Reykjavík. Major solo shows include exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Reykjavík Art Museum; the Barbican Centre, London; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Park, Washington D.C.; the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich; the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; De Pont Museum, Tilburg; and the Louisiana Museum for Modern Art, Humlebæk, among others. Kjartansson participated in The Encyclopedic Palace at the Venice Biennale in 2013, Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2014, and he represented Iceland at the 2009 Venice Biennale. The artist received the 2019 Ars Fennica Award, and was the recipient of the 2015 Artes Mundi’s Derek Williams Trust Purchase Award, and Performa’s 2011 Malcolm McLaren Award.
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THE THINGS YOU SEE BEFORE THE CURTAIN HITS THE FLOOR
MUSEO TAMAYO, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO November 9, 2023Ragnar Kjartansson (Reykjavik, Iceland, 1976) uses theatrical conventions and their paradoxes to create works that often examine emotions, imposture, the historical and the autobiographic, as...Read more -
EPIC WASTE OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING
LOUISIANA MUSEUM, HUMLEBÆK, DK June 9, 2023One of the must-see exhibitions of 2023, according to The Art Newspaper, this presentation of Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson features works in a variety of...Read more
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Ragnar Kjartansson
Mother and Child, Gin and Tonic 22 Feb - 4 May 2024 i8 Galleryi8 Gallery is pleased to announce Mother and Child, Gin and Tonic, an exhibition of new paintings by Ragnar Kjartansson. This show, Kjartansson's fifth at i8, opens with a reception...Read more -
RAGNAR KJARTANSSON
Figures in Landscape 31 Jan - 16 Mar 2019 i8 GalleryFigures in white lab coats roam a man-made landscape, pause, and kill time. They come to us as representatives of logic, science, and human progress. We have seen such images...Read more -
RAGNAR KJARTANSSON
Me and My Mother 11 Jun - 22 Aug 2015 i8 Gallery15 years ago, my son came to me and asked if I would take part in a performance he was preparing, which I admit I thought a great honour. I...Read more -
RAGNAR KJARTANSSON
Song 15 Dec 2011 - 21 Jan 2012 i8 Galleryi8 Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new works by Ragnar Kjartansson, exploring the most basic concepts of every true romantic, youth, love and death. The video installation,...Read more -
Winter Show
Karin Sander, Þór Vigfússon, Ólafur Elíasson, Hreinn Friðfinnsson, Kristján Guðmundsson, Ragna Róbertsdóttir, Ragnar Kjartansson, Sigurður Guðmundsson, Lawrence Weiner and more 13 Dec 2008 - 10 Jan 2009 i8 GalleryNew works by Karin Sander, Þór Vigfússon, Kelly Jazvac, Ólafur Elíasson, Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, Hreinn Friðfinnsson, Finnbogi Pétursson, Ívar Valgarðsson, Guðrún Einarsdóttir, A.K Dolven, Kristján Guðmundsson, Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, Ragna Róbertsdóttir, Ragnar...Read more -
RAGNAR KJARTANSSON
Guilt Trip 13 Mar - 21 Apr 2007 i8 GalleryThe Paradox of Ragnar Kjartansson “… haunting isn’t it? I love the theme of shame and remorse. It is life’s secret invisible thread. Like our good old Mr. Ingmar Bergman...Read more
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Ragnar Kjartansson: The Things You See Before the Curtain Hits the Floor
Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico 9 Nov 2023 - 3 Mar 2024Ragnar Kjartansson (Reykjavik, Iceland, 1976) uses theatrical conventions and their paradoxes to create works that often examine emotions, imposture, the historical and the autobiographic, as well as the politics of representation.Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: Epic Waste of Love and Understanding
Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, DK 9 Jun - 22 Oct 2023One of the must-see exhibitions of 2023, according to The Art Newspaper, this presentation of Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson features works in a variety of media, ranging from drawing and painting to performance and large-scale spatial works. The exhibition, entitled 'Epic Waste of Love and Understanding', is developed in close collaboration with the artist.Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: não sofra mais
Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova Calçada Santa Isabel, Coimbra, Portugal 14 Apr - 16 Jul 2023“não sofra mais” marks Kjartansson’s first presentation in Portugal, and features new works designed specifically for the Santa Clara-a-Nova Monastery, among other acclaimed works by the artist.Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors
4 Feb - 17 Sep 2023The Visitors – an ode to friendship under the intonation of romantic desperation. A group of friends and musicians gather in the natural habitat of...Read more
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Ragnar Kjartansson: Time Changes Everything
De Pont Museum, Tilburg, The Netherlands 17 Sep 2022 - 29 Jan 2023Ragnar Kjartansson's solo exhibition, Time Changes Everything, will open at the De Pont Museum opens September 17, 2022 and runs through January 29, 2023. Kjartansson...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: Schmerz
Theater Spektakel, Saffa-Insel, Zürich, Switzerland 20 - 23 Aug 2022For Theater Spektakel 2022, Ragnar Kjartansson has asked two of his artist friends to co-create a static operatic sculpture and to repeat a single dramatic...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Sky in a Room
St Mary Magdalene Church, Tanworth-in-Arden, England 25 Jun - 3 Jul 2022Ikon presents The Sky in a Room, a major off-site project with Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, organised in collaboration with Artes Mundi (Cardiff). The...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: Der Klang der Offenbarung des Göttlichen
Volkstheater Wien, Vienna, Austria 17 Mar - 3 May 2022An overly romantic, theatrical, dramatic, minimalist, musical spectacle – in search of a past dead world to find something new. Just as the title suggests,...Read more
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Ragnar Kjartansson: Emotional Landscapes
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid 22 Feb - 26 Jun 2022Emotional Landscapes, an exhibition of Ragnar Kjartansson's works that explores the artist's fascination with America and the North American landscape, opens today at the Museo...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: Santa Barbara and To Moscow! To Moscow! To Moscow!
GES-2, V-A-C Foundation, Moscow 4 Dec 2021 - 24 Feb 2022Two major installations by Ragnar Kjartansson will open on December 4, 2021 at the GES-2 House of Culture, the V-A-C Foundation’s new permanent site in...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: Romantic Songs of the Patriarchy
The Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA 2 - 5 Jul 2021From July 2 to 5, Ragnar Kjartansson: Romantic Songs of the Patriarchy will be on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. It is the...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: Sumarnótt
National Gallery of Iceland 7 May - 29 Sep 2021During the bright summer months, the National Gallery of Iceland shows the video installation Death Is Elsewhere by Ragnar Kjartansson – filmed one Icelandic summer...Read more
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ETERNAL RECURRENCE
Kjarvalsstaðir, Reykjavik Art Museum 27 Mar - 19 Sep 2021In this extensive exhibition, the works of Jóhannes S. Kjarval (1885-1972) create a thread which connects different periods in time. His art is displayed along...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Sky in a Room
Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan, Italy 22 Sep - 25 Oct 2020Fondazione Nicola Trussardi presentsThe Sky in a Room by the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson (Reykjavík, 1976). The project, staged for the church of San Carlo...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: Scheize - Liebe - Sehnsucht
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany 20 Jul - 20 Oct 2019With Scheize – Liebe – Sehnsucht, the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart is showing Ragnar Kjartansson's most extensive show to date in Germany. It brings together all the...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: Death is Elsewhere
The Met Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, USA 30 May - 2 Sep 2019As part of a new series of contemporary installations, The Met presents the world premiere of a major new work: Death Is Elsewhere (2019), a...Read more
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Ragnar Kjartansson: This Must Be the Place
Bergen Airport, Bergen, Norway 17 Aug 2017Ragnar Kjartansson's permanent installation at Bergen Airport, This Must Be The Place, was installed on occasion of the opening of the airport's new terminal in...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson
Barbican, London, UK 14 Jul - 4 Sep 2017This is the first ever UK survey of the work of the internationally acclaimed Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, charting his wide-ranging practice across film and...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: God I feel so Bad
Hafnarhús - Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland 3 Jun - 24 Sep 2017After a successful series of international appearances in recent years, including major survey exhibitions on both sides of the Atlantic, Ragnar Kjartansson opens his first...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson
Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, USA 14 Oct 2016 - 7 Jan 2017Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the most celebrated performance artists anywhere,” Ragnar Kjartansson (Reykjavík, Iceland; b. 1976) came to the Hirshhorn...Read more
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Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors
Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Switzerland 17 Nov 2012 - 27 Jan 2013The Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst reopens with the first Swiss solo exhibition of the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson. Kjartansson’s enthusiasm for music and his interest...Read more -
Ragnar Kjartansson: The end
The Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada 30 Jan - 18 May 2010A self-described radical post-romantic, the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson traveled westbound towards the Rocky Mountains in search of the epic. Working primarily as a performance...Read more
b. 1976 in Reykjavik
Lives and works in Reykjavik
EDUCATION
1997–2001
Iceland Academy of the Arts, Reykjavík, Iceland
2000
The Royal Academy, Stockholm, Sweden, exchange student
1996–1997
Hússtjórnarskólinn, Reykjavík, Iceland
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES
2024
Death and the Children, IKOB Museum of Contemporary Art Eupen, Belgium
Mother and Child, Gin and Tonic, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Man, The Gund, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
2023
The Things You See Before the Curtain Hits the Floor, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Epic Waste of Love and Understanding, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
não sofra mais, Santa Clara-a-Nova Monastery in Coimbra, Portugal
The Visitors, Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland
The Visitors, Esker Foundation, Calgary, Canada
The Visitors, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
2022
There's a song in my heart and a hammer in my brain, Luhring Augustine, New York
Ragnar Kjartansson: Time Changes Everything, De Pont Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Schmerz, Theater Spektakel, Saffa Island, Zürich, Switzerland
The Sky in a Room, St Mary Magdalene Church, Tanworth-in-Arden, England
Der Klang der Offenbarung des Göttlichen, Volkstheater Wien, Vienna, Austria
Ragnar Kjartansson:Emotional Landscapes, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Underworld of Akureyri, Icelandic Art Center, Reykjavik, Iceland
2021
Ragnar Kjartansson: Santa Barbara, GES-2 House of Culture, V-A-C Foundation, Moscow, Russia
Ragnar Kjartansson: Death is Elsewhere, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Ragnar Kjartansson: Romantic Songs of the Patriarchy, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Ragnar Kjartansson: Sumarnótt, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Boston, MA
2020
Ragnar Kjartansson: Death is Elsewhere, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors, Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston, Boston, MA
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Sky in the Room, Church of San Carlo al Lazzaretto, Milan, Italy
2019
Focus On: Ragnar Kjartansson, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, USA
Ragnar Kjartansson: Scenes from Western Culture, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Oregon, USA
The Visitors, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland
Ragnar Kjartansson. The Man, Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Cordoba, Spain
Scheize – Liebe – Sehnsucht, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Ragnar Kjartansson: A Lot of Sorrow, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Canada
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors, MFA The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA
Ragnar Kjartansson: Death Is Elsewhere, The Met Fifth Avenue, New York, USA
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Figures in Landscape, i8 Gallery, Iceland
2018
Romantic Songs of the Patriarchy, Women’s Building, San Francisco, California, USA
Krieg (War), National Theatre of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
Ragnar Kjartansson: A Lot of Sorrow, Faurschou Foundation Beijing, Beijing, China
S.S. Hangover, The Contemporary, Austin, USA
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Sky in a Room, National Museum Cardiff, Wales
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
2017
Ragnar Kjartansson: God I feel so bad, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
Raw Salon: Ein Rohspiel, Volksbühne, Berlin, Germany
No Tomorrow (with Margrét Bjarnadóttir) performed by the Icelandic Dance Company, London, UK and Reykjavik, Iceland
2016–2017
Ragnar Kjartansson, Barbican, London, UK;Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
2016
The Visitors, The Frist Center, Nashville, USA
Ragnar Kjartansson, Luhring Augustine, New York, USA
Ragnar Kjartansson, Luhring Augustine Bushwick, New York, USA
Ragnar Kjartansson, Copenhagen Contemporary, Kaupmannahöfn, Denmark
The Visitors, Le Printemps de septembre, Toulouse, France
A Lot of Sorrow, Ragnar Kjartansson and the National, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Architecture and Morality, cca, Tel Aviv, Israel
Krieg (War), Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg Platz, Berlin, Germany
The Visitors,University of Buffalo Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA
Woman in E, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Ragnar Kjartansson, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
2015–2016
Seul celui qui connaît le désir, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2015
The Visitors, The Vinyl Factory, London, UK
A Lot of Sorrow, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
The End, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, USA
The Fall, Berliner Festspiele, Berlin, Germany
A Lot of Sorrow, Ragnar Kjartansson and The National,König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Song, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Me and My Mother, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland
The End, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, Australia
The Visitors, Faena Art Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Visitors, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
The Visitors and The Man, John Curtin Gallery, Perth, Australia
2014–2015
Black Box: Ragnar Kjartansson, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., USA
2014
The End – Rocky Mountains, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba, Canada
The Palace of the Summerland, Ragnar Kjartansson and Friends, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
A Lot of Sorrow, Ragnar Kjartansson and The National, Luhring Augustine Bushwick, New York, USA
Bjarni Bummer Listens to Take it Easy by the Eagles, Skúrinn, Reykjavík, Iceland
Me, My Mother, My Father and I, New Museum, New York, USA
The Visitors, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA
Der Klang der Offenbarung des Göttlichen, Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg Platz, Berlin, Germany
The Visitors, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain
2013–2014
The Visitors, Kling & Bang Gallerí, Reykjavík, Iceland
The Visitors, Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy
2013
Ragnar Kjartansson, Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, USA
A Lot of Sorrow, Ragnar Kjartansson and The National, MoMA PS1, New York, USA
The Visitors, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
The End, Szene Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
The Visitors, Luhring Augustine, New York, USA
Scandinavian Pain: Ragnar Kjartansson, Edvard Munch, Moderna Museet, Malmö, Sweden
2012
The End, Scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto, Canada
The Visitors, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Switzerland
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Aesthetics of Senses and Delights, Safnasafnið: The Icealndic Folk and Outsider Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland
Anywhere Out of the World, Centre of Polish Sculpture, Oronsko, Poland
FuturePast, Ísafjörður Art Museum, Ísafjörður, Iceland
Day for Night: New American Realism, Selections from the Tony and Elham Salame Collection, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy
Luhring Augustine x MASA, MASA, Mexico City, Mexico
2023
Kaleidoscope: Icelandic 21st Century Art, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland
The Last of appaAnimal Builders, Edith Farnsworth House, Plano, USA
Painting is Dead, Kunstpakhuset, Ikast, Denmark
Reaching for the Stars: From Maurizio Cattelan to Lynette Yiadom Boakye, Fondazione Palazzo
Strozzi, Florence, Italy
2021
H2H, Athens, Greece
Call/Response: The Gund Gallery Turns 10, Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, USA
To Moscow! To Moscow! To Moscow!, GES-2 House of Culture, V-A-C Foundation, Moscow, Russia
Eternal Recurrence, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
The Pleasure Pavilion: A Series of Installations, Luhring Augustine Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY Plus One, Luhring Augustine, New York, USA
2020
The Blue Peal of Bells, Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Busan, South Korea
AGAINandAGAINandAGAINand, MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Come Closer, Biennale Ve veci umeni / Matter of Art 2020 (VVUMOA), Prague City Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
Photography’s Last Century: The Collection of Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Unique, Parkett Space, Zurich, Switzerland
Up to and Including Limits: After Carolee Schneemann, Muzeum Susch, Susch, Switzerland
2019
Happy !, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, USA
MOMENTUM 10 - The Emotional Exhibition, Galleri F 15, Moss, Norway
Nordic Impressions - Contemporary Art from Åland, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway & Sweden, ASF + Scandinavia House, New York, USA
2018-2019
Allting föreställer. Ingenting är., Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle, Sweden
Nordic Impressions: Art from Åland, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland
Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, 1821-2017, Phillips Collection, Washington D.C, USA
2018
Double Lives: Visual Artists Making Music, museum moderner kunst stiftung ludwig wien, Viena, Austria
Nordic Views, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark
You Are Here: Light, Color, and Sound Experiences, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, USA
2017-2018
Commissions from Performa’s Archives, Whitechapel Gallery, London, England
La mère la mer, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, USA
Leonard Cohen: Une brèche en toute chose / A Crack in Everything, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
2017
Soundtracks, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
The Voice, Coreana Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
Opnun, Kling og Bang, Reykjavik, Iceland
Nordic Matters, Southbank Centre, London, UK
2016
Dicker als Wasser: Konzepte des Familiären in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Kunstpalais & Stadtische Sammlung Erlangen, Erlangen
Reading Prison, Art Angel, Reading, UK
Life Serial, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery – Columbia University, New York, USA
I See a Darkness, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
Illumination, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
Auf den Schultern von Giganten, Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Moving Image Department – 4th Chapter: The Rhetoric Of Time, Revisited, National Gallery Prague, Veletržní Palace, Prague, Czech Republic
Collection on Display: Momentary Monuments, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Switzerland
Lines of Flight: Life Serial, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, USA
Spring Performance Festival, Kunstverein, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Galerie Juliette Jongma, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2015–2017
Sound in Motion, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
2015–2016
The Bauhaus #itsalldesign, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany; Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
Inaugural installation, The Broad, Los Angeles, California, USA
Saga. Iceland: Art and Narrative, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
2015
Drifting in Daylight: Art in Central Park, Creative Time and Central Park Conservancy, Central Park, New York, USA
Falling Fictions, me Collectors Room, Berlin, Germany
Fireflies in the Night, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Athens, Greece
Framing Desire: Photography and Video, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
An Imprecise Science, Artspace, Woolloomooloo, Australia
MusicNOW Festival, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA
Listening, Baltic 39, Newcastle, UK; The Bluecoat, Liverpool, UK; Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK; Art Exchange, Colchester, UK
Piano Pieces – Pianos. Sounds. Art., Neue Residenz, Salzburg Museum, Salzburg, Austria
Sounds from a Safe Harbour Festival of Music, Art and Conversation, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, Home Manchester, Manchester, UK
Saga: Narrative Art, Listasafn Islands, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
Überschönheit, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria
Und weg mit den Minuten. Dieter Roth und die Musik, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum fur Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
A man walks into a bar… ., me Collectors Room Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2014–2015
Artes Mundi 6, Ffotogallery, Cardiff, Wales, UK
2014
High Performance: Time-Based Media Art since 1996 from the Julia Stoschek Collection, Rīgas Mākslas Telpa, Riga, Latvia
Imaginary Portraits: Prince Igor, Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met, New York, USA
Manifesta 10, Vitebsk Station, St. Petersburg, Russia
Rolling Snowball 5, Chinese European Art Center, Djúpivogur, Iceland
Score, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
Your Compound View, Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland
Island: Wenn Bilder erzählen, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany
All Together Now, Nuit Blanche, Hart House, Toronto, Canada
Stanze/Rooms, Works from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
Truly Flabby Preludes (For a Dog) 1/4: Pink Noise, La Maison Populaire, Montreuil, France
2013
Göteborg Biennial, with Andjeas Ejiksson, Stora Teatren, Gothenburg, Sweden
Towada Art Festival at Towada Art Centre, Japan
Civilization: Monumental Materialism. Artists colony, MoMA PS1, New York, USA
Deep Feelings: From Antiquity to Now, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria, Venice Biennale, Arsenale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
A Space called Public, part of Elmgreen & Dragset’s project of public artworks, Munich, Germany
Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopaedic Palace) 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Trekk: Contemporary Currents in Icelandic Art Today, Sogn og Fjordane Kunstmuseum, Forde, Norway
1.pers.sing.: The artist’s body between self-portrait and performance, b-05 Kunst- und Kulturzentrum Association e.V, Montabaur, Germany
Sequences VI Real Time Art Festival, Reykjavík
2012
I Wish this was a Song: Music in Contemporary Art, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway
Songs of space, time and lust, Ephemeropterae˜ XIV / XV+, tba21, Vienna, Austria
Á Ciel Ouvert - Le Nouveau Pleinairisme, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec, Canada
True Stories, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Bliss, The National Theatre of Iceland as part of The Reykjavík Art Festival, Iceland
A House Full of Music: Strategies in Music and Art, Institute Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
Discussing Metamodernism, Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin, Germany
It’s Not the End of the World, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
21c Museum Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, Cardiff, Wales
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
The Broad Art Foundation, USA
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA
Center for Curatorial Studies – Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, USA
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, USA
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
El Mirador Project, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, USA
Faurschou Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo,Turin, Italy
Glenstone, Potomac, USA
Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, USA
Haudenschild Collection, La Jolla, USA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C, USA
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
McEvoy Foundation of the Arts, San Francisco, USA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Switzerland
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Miami, Florida, USA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium
Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie, Warsaw, Poland
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, USA
Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, USA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
University of Copenhagen Maersk Tower, Copenhagen, Denmark
V-A-C Foundation, Moscow, Russia
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Again and Again
Tom Morton, Frieze, August 5, 2016 -
At the Guggenheim, a Performance Piece Raises Questions of Feminist Art and Emotional Labor
Kate Dwyer , W Magazine, February 7, 2021 -
Pussy Riot arrives in Iceland, urinates on a Putin portrait
Sebastian Smee, The Washington Post, December 17, 2022 -
Ragnar Kjartansson’s Spiritual Satire
AX Mina, Hyperallergic, July 9, 2023
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CHART 2024
Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark 29 Aug - 1 Sep 2024i8 Gallery's presentation at Chart 2024 features artworks by established artists associated with the gallery’s history. The exhibition showcases important works from each artist’s respective...Read more -
Art Basel Miami Beach 2023
Miami Beach Convention Center 6 - 10 Dec 2023i8 Gallery's presentation for Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 features artists who are key figures within the gallery's history from past to present.Read more -
Frieze London 2023
The Regent's Park 11 - 15 Oct 2023i8 Gallery's presentation for Frieze London 2023 features artists who are key figures within the gallery's history. Two new works by Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967,...Read more -
CHART 2023
Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark 24 - 27 Aug 2023i8 Gallery is pleased to present a solo presentation by Ragnar Kjartansson at CHART 2023. Featuring sculpture, painting, and video, the booth will highlight Kjartansson’s...Read more -
Frieze London 2020
8 - 11 Oct 2020Read more -
The Armory Show 2020
5 - 8 Mar 2020Read more
