Edited by Heike Munder. Text by Markus por Andresson, Philip Auslander, Edek Bartz, Heike Munder.
In his melancholic yet absurdly comical performances, Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson (born 1976) explores his own physical and psychological limits—for example, singing Schumann’s Dichterliebe over and over for two weeks. This book unites for the first time all of Kjartansson’s music-related works from 2001 to 2012.
This Sunday, May 5, MoMA PS1 presents the last of its Sunday Sessions in the VW Dome. From 12:00 to 6:00 PM, the museum will screen the durational performance, A Lot of Sorrow by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson. For the original work, Kjartansson sought out US rock band The National to perform their song, Sorrow, repeatedly in a six-hour live loop. By stretching a single pop song into a day-long tour de force the artist continues his explorations into the potential of repetitive performance to produce sculptural presence within sound. Featured image, of Kjartansson performing "The Night—Eroticism, Folköl and Melancholia" (2010) at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, is reproduced from JRP|Ringier'sTo Music. continue to blog
Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, shown here performing in the 2004 single-channel video work "Satan is Real"—reproduced from JRP|Ringier's awesome survey of music-related works, To Music—is the subject of a major feature in this weekend's New York Times. (The artist's traveling American museum survey, Song, is currently on view at the ICA Boston, and his nine-screen video installation, "The Visitors"—also featured in To Music—will be on view at Luhring Augustine, New York, in February.) In a 2011 interview with Edek Bartz, published in To Music, Kjartansson says, "Someone once said the reason country music is so good is that it’s just three chords and the truth. You can also say that about soul music and blues. It is American music. A friend of mine, who is an avant-garde sound and noise artist, only listens to American music. He says he cannot listen to European music. He says it is arty crap, saying, 'Because I’m a European I have to make arty crap.' He wishes he could be a true American songwriter. It’s true: all American music comes from the soil, but most European bands come from art schools." continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 7 x 9.25 in. / 220 pgs / 172 color / 3 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $49.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $60 ISBN: 9783037643037 PUBLISHER: JRP|Ringier AVAILABLE: 1/31/2013 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AU/NZ AFR ME
Published by JRP|Ringier. Edited by Heike Munder. Text by Markus por Andresson, Philip Auslander, Edek Bartz, Heike Munder.
In his melancholic yet absurdly comical performances, Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson (born 1976) explores his own physical and psychological limits—for example, singing Schumann’s Dichterliebe over and over for two weeks. This book unites for the first time all of Kjartansson’s music-related works from 2001 to 2012.
