Ragnar Kjartansson in “Realms of the Real” – Season 12 | Art21

Why It Matters

His practice redefines visual art as a collaborative, performative experience, prompting museums and markets to value process‑driven works that engage audiences beyond traditional objects.

Key Takeaways

• Visual art offers ultimate freedom, per Ragnar Kjartansson.
• Icelandic heritage shapes his interdisciplinary, performance-driven artistic practice.
• Repetition and ritual create mystical, religious-like artistic experiences.
• Collaboration and community are essential to his large-scale works.
• He blurs boundaries between music, painting, and theatrical performance.

Summary

The Art21 interview spotlights Icelandic visual artist Ragnar Kjartansson, exploring his belief that visual art is essentially a word for freedom—a concept inherited from early 20th‑century innovators like Marcel Duchamp. He frames his practice as a way of living, creating moments that fuse performance, music, and painting.

Kjartansson emphasizes repetition, ritual, and community as core mechanisms. He films projects every five years to generate a mantra‑like, quasi‑religious experience, and he relies on collaborators—from musicians to producers—to transform mundane settings into magical, absurd tableaux. His Icelandic upbringing, a blend of rural tradition and sudden urban cultural emergence, informs his Bohemian sensibility and his critique of artistic masculinity.

Memorable quotes include, “visual artist basically just means… it's almost like a word for freedom,” and “art is a way to live life, creating moments.” He recounts turning the Venice Biennale Iceland pavilion into a living studio, inviting a friend to pose in a Speedo while the work deteriorated over months—a self‑conscious parody of art‑history clichés.

Kjartansson’s interdisciplinary, community‑driven model signals a broader shift toward experiential, participatory art that blurs genre boundaries. Institutions and collectors must adapt, recognizing that value now resides as much in process and collaboration as in the final object.

Original Description

Art21 proudly presents an artist segment featuring Ragnar Kjartansson from the "Realms of the Real" episode in the twelfth season of the "Art in the Twenty-First Century" series.

"Realms of the Real" premiered in February 2026 on PBS.

This documentary short follows Ragnar Kjartansson as he describes his unique path to becoming an artist, reflects on decades of work in performance, film, painting, and music, and creates a new work, A Boy and a Girl and a Bush and a Bird (2025).

Ragnar Kjartansson was born in 1976 in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he lives and works. Learn more about the artist: https://art21.org/ragnarkjartansson/

Support the production of films and educational materials about contemporary artists and art. Donate: https://art21.org/give/

CREDITS

Director: Stephanie Wang-Breal

Executive Producer: Tina Kukielski

Series Producer: Nick Ravich

Producer: Nan Sandle

Editor: Colin Nusbaum

Director of Photography: James Fideler

Associate Producer: Andrea Chung

Associate Curator: Jurrell Lewis

Design & Animation: Momentist, Inc.

Composer: Andrew Orkin

Artwork Courtesy: Ragnar Kjartansson, i8 Gallery, Luhring Augustine Gallery.

Special Thanks: The Art21 Board of Trustees, Markús Þór Andrésson, Guðrún Ásmundsdóttir, Anne Carson, Lilja Gunnarsdóttir, Henning Larsen Architects of Batterii® architects, Davíð Þór Jónsson, Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir, Studio Ólafur Elíasson.

Series Created By: Susan Dowling & Susan Sollins

Full credits available at: https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s12/ragnar-kjartansson-in-realms-of-the-real/

© 2026 Art21, Inc.

"Art in the Twenty-First Century" is made possible with original production funding provided by The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Lambent Foundation, Agnes Gund, Melony and Adam Lewis, National Endowment for the Arts, Teiger Foundation, Sarah Arison, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Dealer Tire, Arts, Equity, & Education Fund™, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Elyse and Lawrence B. Benenson, Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia, Tim and Lauren Schrager Family Foundation.

TRANSLATIONS

Translated subtitles are generously contributed by our volunteer translation community.

Visit our translation team at Amara for the full list of contributors: https://amara.org/teams/art21/

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