Ragnar Kjartansson at Raster, Warsaw, 30 XI 2010

Excerpt from the concert of Ragnar Kjartansson during the opening in Raster gallery in Warsaw on 30th of October 2010

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Ragnar Kjartansson (born 1976 in Reykjavik) is an exceptional figure on the international art scene. The artist applies a broad range of media - he paints, draws, plays the guitar, sings, constructs installations or video installations. The key to all of Kjartansson's art is its performative character: the physical presence and the artist's engagement in actions which are sometimes continued for hours, even weeks, but which are continuously highly emotionally charged. Some of the actions are "live", in the presence of an audience. Others are performed in front of the camera. In terms of their structure, the works refer to the classical pieces from the heroic times of performance art. Just like the performers from the 1970's, Kjartansson too often takes his actions to the limits of his own physical capacity and endurance, though in his case the work is not in any way drastic - instead of exposing the viewers to violent and traumatic experiments on the performer's body, the audience is enthralled, seduced and convinced. To put it bluntly, the artist does not cut his wrists open on the stage but. sings until he's breathless, thus provoking a similarly high level of tension among the viewers.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• raster
• Ragnar
• Kjartansson
• satan