Ragnar Kjartansson's 'Me and My Mother' Performance Spans 15 Years

In 2000, Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson (born 1976 in Reykjavik) conceived a durational performance piece involving his mother, actress Guðrún Ásmundsdóttir. The work, titled 'Me and My Mother,' consists of four chapters filmed in 2001, 2005, 2010, and 2015. In each iteration, Ásmundsdóttir spits on Kjartansson for several minutes. The artist, then an art student, proposed the idea to his mother, who agreed without hesitation, imagining him as a businessman who ruined Iceland's economy. The piece ironically references 1970s performance art characterized by repetitive physical violence. Kjartansson, raised in a family immersed in visual and performing arts, explores themes of mortality, parent-child relationships, and the boundary between fiction and reality. The work is documented in a video produced by the Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen.