Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson's first major Australian exhibition, 'Mercy', opens at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) on 26 June, featuring eight of his enthralling video works including 'The Visitors', which the Guardian named the best artwork of the 21st century in 2019. The 64-minute, nine-screen installation was filmed in one take at Rokeby Farm, a dilapidated Gilded Age mansion in upstate New York, and has developed a cult following with bootleg recordings on YouTube amassing over 340,000 views.
'Me and My Mother' and the passage of time
One of the standout pieces is 'Me and My Mother', a video series started in 2000 when Kjartansson was an art student in Reykjavík. The work shows his mother, Guðrún Ásmundsdóttir, repeatedly spitting in his face. Initially intended as a brutal piece, the video captures moments where both dissolve into laughter, blurring authenticity and performativity. Every five years, the pair restage the piece, documenting the aging process. The latest installment, filmed in 2025 when Ásmundsdóttir turned 90, shows her struggling to spit. 'She almost can’t spit any more. It’s very hard for her,' Kjartansson said. The work almost didn't develop into a memento mori after a guest lecturer called the first recording a 'failure', but Kjartansson later embraced the feedback, saying it became 'the essence of my works: working with this reality that is pretend.'
Blurring boundaries between reality and performance
Kjartansson's works deftly blur authenticity and performativity, irony and sincerity, comedy and tragedy. His videos often feature music as an emotional anchor, with repeating lyrics and melodies creating a hypnotic experience. Influences range from Elvis and Abba to Mozart and a German comedy song from 1996, 'Sunday Without Love'. Regular collaborators include members of Sigur Rós, Múm, Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the National, and his wife, artist Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir.
'The Visitors': A love song and reflection
'The Visitors' is often described as a reflection on the breakdown of Kjartansson's first marriage, but it also serves as a 'love song' to the United States, a celebration of friendship, and a tribute to the crumbling mansion. The work has a cult following; comments on YouTube bootlegs recall how it brought viewers to tears, both joyful and sad. Kjartansson attributes this emotional resonance to a lesson from his father, theatre director Kjartan Ragnarsson: 'It’s beautiful and sad to be a human being.'
Political and social commentary in later works
More recent pieces like 'Scenes from Western Culture' depict idyllic but mundane moments—a couple dining, a woman swimming laps, children playing—hinting at malaise beneath comfortable lives. Kjartansson noted the global homogenization of culture, saying, 'You travel as far as you can go, but it’s the same cafe as Reykjavík.' The exhibition ends with 'No Tomorrow', featuring eight dancers on a gleaming stage, rehearsed as Donald Trump began his first presidency. Kjartansson paraphrases artist Agnes Martin: 'All art is about beauty. It’s either a celebration of the beauty of the world or a demonstration against the lack of beauty in the world.'
'Mercy': A biblical and ritualistic theme
The exhibition title 'Mercy' reflects Kjartansson's concern over global politics. 'There’s grace in the world and there’s also violence in the world. I like that double edge. It also has that sense of religiousness. Being in Nick Cave’s city, I want to be biblical,' he said. The repetition in his videos, sometimes for hours, makes them feel like prayers, transforming simple phrases or gestures into acts of devotion. 'Me and My Mother' exemplifies this ritualistic quality, turning an absurd act into a profound meditation on aging, family, and love.
'Ragnar Kjartansson: Mercy' runs at the National Gallery of Victoria from 26 June to 4 October. The artist will speak at the exhibition at 3.30pm on Saturday 27 June.
