Ragnar Kjartansson: The End

Ragnar Kjartansson is known for his spectacular, music-filled performative live installations and video work. The history of film, music, theater, visual culture, and literature finds its way into his videos, durational performances, drawings, and paintings. Filmed in Banff, Alberta, The End is a five-channel video installation synched together as a country music arrangement in the key of G. Produced with the support of The Banff Centre for the Icelandic Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale, the piece was developed by Kjartansson in collaboration with Icelandic musician Davíð Þór Jónsson. Kjartansson studied at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. He was born in 1976 in Reykjavík, where he still lives and works today. MOCAD presents The End as the beginning of a two-year partnership with Ragnar Kjartansson. In February of 2016, MOCAD will present a newly commissioned work. This exhibition has been organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and is curated by MOCAD Executive Director Elysia Borowy-Reeder and MOCAD Senior Curator at Large Jens Hoffmann.