Ragnar Kjartansson's Studio Visit and Recklinghausen Exhibition

Ragnar Kjartansson, one of Iceland's most significant contemporary artists, will have an exhibition at Kunsthalle Recklinghausen starting May 2026. Known for his multi-channel video installations that blend pop culture, meditation, Nordic melancholy, and humor, Kjartansson gained international acclaim after representing Iceland at the Venice Biennale in his early thirties. His video installation "The Visitors" was named "the most important artwork of the 21st century" by The Guardian in 2019. Born in 1976, Kjartansson works in a modest studio at Reykjavík's old harbor, where he creates across painting, performance, music, and video. His family background deeply influences his art: his grandfather, Ragnar Kjartansson senior, was a sculptor and ceramicist who shared a studio with Fluxus artist Dieter Roth. His parents are actors and theater makers. Since 2000, Kjartansson has performed "Me and My Mother" every five years with his mother, actress Guðrún Ásmundsdóttir, now 90. The work explores mother-son relationships and feminism, which Kjartansson considers the most important achievement of the 20th century. He is represented by i8 Gallery in Reykjavík (since art school) and Luhring Augustine in New York. The exhibition in Recklinghausen offers a rare opportunity to see his work in Germany.