Ragnar Kjartansson at the Barbican

last updated 31 August 2022

Performance artist of the moment Ragnar Kjartansson presents Second Movement at the Barbican. The work is part of an extensive solo exhibition, his first in the UK. Videography: Antonio Camera

The art world can't get enough of Ragnar Kjartansson. Hot on the heels of two Venice Biennale offerings for Iceland and a host of new commissions across America, the 40-year-old contemporary performance artist is at the top of his game. It's quite incredible, then, that this summer's eponymous Barbican exhibition is Kjartansson's first solo show in the UK.

'If we hadn't done it now, someone else would have,' explains the exhibition's associate curator Leila Hasham. 'The problem is, staging something so varied and performance-based is expensive and difficult.' Galleries without the luxury of space and finance have shied away from such an extensive survey – until now. The Barbican, with its theatrical, cinematic and artistic expertise, is the ideal home for Kjartansson's varied ouevre of films, paintings and live performance.

Kjartansson thought so too. 'The interdisciplinary buffet that is the Barbican fits my unfocused practice. Seriously, I love the building, the utopian feel and the programme that has kept me coming and coming as a tourist since my parents took me here in the 1980s.'

Kjartansson grew up backstage at Reykjavik City Theatre, and his theatrical parentage shines throughout the exhibition – his actress mother even features in one of the earliest works, Me and My Mother (2000). The film depicts her spitting in his face repeatedly, in a provocative, yet laugh-out-loud take on a loving, motherly relationship.

But the work that's got more tongues wagging than any other is Second Movement (2016), a four-hour-long kiss staged on the Barbican lake every Saturday and Sunday for the duration of the exhibition. Kjartansson wanted to create something similar to his 2013 Venice Biennale performance SS Hangover, wherein a large fishing boat from 1934 swayed with a host of brass musicians. 'I told him that was all well and good, but our pond was only 50–60cm deep,' Hasham explains. He went away and thought about it, returning with a bespoke, hand-painted rowing-boat with a flat bottom that could skim the shallow pool with ease.

The resulting performance, in which two women in Edwardian dress are frozen in an elegant embrace, appears at once peaceful and obsessive, innocent yet voyeuristic. The overriding impression is how small the two girls look, performing with calm confidence while the brutalist architecture looms absurdly above them. One might assume that only jobbing actors could keep such an intimate hold with professionalism; but they were sourced through the 'Barbican Creatives' Facebook group, advertised on social media and through the trade union Equity.

Hasham asked Kjartansson why he chose to work with two women. 'He said it was down to his interest in repetition, reflection, mirror-images,' she reveals. The two girls reflect each other's gentle movements completely, which are then mirrored in the dark water below. Second Movement is site-specific to the Barbican, and cannot be recreated elsewhere. Catch the perfect embrace before it disappears forever on 4 September.

Left Image: White wall, two solid white viewing blocks with wooden framed glass boxes, landscape model of trees and snowy ground inside Right Image: Kjartansson wearing a light grey pinstripe suit, white shirt, black tie and bright pink handkerchief in top right pocket, stood in front of colourful wall art as a blurred backdrop — Kjartansson (pictured right) explains, 'the interdisciplinary buffet that is the Barbican fits my unfocused practice. Seriously, I love the building, the utopian feel and the programme that has kept me coming and coming as a tourist since my parents took me here in the 1980s'

Grey table top, neat row of small books open with colourful sketches and writing — The Barbican, with its theatrical, cinematic and artistic expertise, is the ideal home for Kjartansson's varied ouevre of films, paintings and live performance

Gallery, colourful artwork on walls, white gloss floor, black ridge ceiling with black spotlights shining on artwork — Galleries without the luxury of space, and finance, have shied away from such an extensive survey. Not so here

Large room, white walls and floor, black ceiling man with a guitar lay on a single mattress with a peach silk cover, bottle of beer next to him on the floor, standing lamp with white shade lit up in the corner, one make stood playing guitar, sitting room chairs, two male guitarists sat in chairs playing, large projector screen with man and woman in the shot — Kjartansson grew up backstage in Reykjavik City Theatre, and his theatrical parentage shines throughout the exhibition – his actress mother even features in one of the earliest works, *Me and My Mother* (2000)

The work that's got more tongues wagging than any other is Second Movement (2016), a four-hour long kiss staged on the Barbican lake every Saturday and Sunday for the duration of the exhibition. Videography: Antonio Camera

INFORMATION

'Ragnar Kjartansson' is on view until 4 September. For more information, visit the Barbican website

Photography: Tristan Fewings. Courtesy Barbican Art Gallery, Getty Images

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Barbican
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Elly Parsons is the Digital Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees Wallpaper.com and its social platforms. She has been with the brand since 2015 in various roles, spending time as digital writer – specialising in art, technology and contemporary culture – and as deputy digital editor. She was shortlisted for a PPA Award in 2017, has written extensively for many publications, and has contributed to three books. She is a guest lecturer in digital journalism at Goldsmiths University, London, where she also holds a masters degree in creative writing. Now, her main areas of expertise include content strategy, audience engagement, and social media.

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