ExhibitionsRagnar Kjartansson: The Visitors
Past Exhibition

Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors

March 6 – May 9, 2021

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Ragnar Kjartansson at a piano in a mansion.

Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors, 2012, nine-channel video with sound.
Duration: 64 minutes
Commissioned by the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich
Photo: Elísabet David
© Ragnar Kjartansson; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York and i8 Gallery, Reykjavik

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Ragnar Kjartansson installation.

Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors, 2012, nine-channel video with sound.
Duration: 64 minutes
Commissioned by the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich
Installation view: Vinyl Factory, London, England; Photos by: © Jana Chiellino
© Ragnar Kjartansson; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York and i8 Gallery, Reykjavik

The High presents this acclaimed video installation by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, who is celebrated internationally for his work combining musical, theatrical, and cinematic elements.

The Visitors is a mesmerizing nine-channel sound and video recording featuring performers and musicians playing a composition by Kjartansson and Davíð Þór Jónsson with lyrics from artist Ásdís Sif Gunnarsdóttir.

Although playing together in unison, the performers each occupy separate rooms within a historic forty-three-room mansion on Rokeby Farm, an estate located in upstate New York. The unique visual and audio arrangement creates a layered portrait of the two hundred-year-old home and its inhabitants and poignantly expresses the experiences of love, loss, separation, and reunion.

The installation is accompanied by Postcards to Marguerite, a multipart work that draws a literary parallel to the musical exchange between friends in The Visitors. Featuring 415 postcards the artist sent to Marguerite Steed Hoffman over a period of fourteen months, the work marks a series of prosaic moments alongside significant events of Kjartansson’s life.

Related

Resonant Matter Ragnar Kjartansson 317x317.jpg
Book – Resonant Matter: Sound, Art, and the Promise of Hospitality,
Pv9a4308 317x317.jpg
Blog – A Must-See in Our Pandemic Era: Ragnar Kjartansson’s “The Visitors” at the High,

Press

Technique | “High’s interactive exhibit ‘The Visitors’ opens”
Emory Wheel | “Acclaimed ‘The Visitors’ On View at High Museum”

Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
This exhibition is made possible by

Premier Exhibition Series Sponsor

Exhibition Series Sponsor

Premier Exhibition Series Supporters

Sarah and Jim Kennedy

Benefactor Exhibition Series Supporters

Anne Cox Chambers Foundation
Robin and Hilton Howell

Ambassador Exhibition Supporters

The Antinori Foundation
Corporate Environments
Louise Sams and Jerome Grilhot
Elizabeth and Chris Willett

Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters

Farideh and Al Azadi
Sandra and Dan Baldwin
The Ron and Lisa Brill Family Charitable Trust
Lucinda W. Bunnen
Marcia and John Donnell
Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Jones
The Arthur R. and Ruth D. Lautz Charitable Foundation
Joel Knox and Joan Marmo
Margot and Danny McCaul
The Fred and Rita Richman Fund
Mrs. Harriet H. Warren

Generous support is also provided by

Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, Isobel Anne Fraser–Nancy Fraser Parker Exhibition Endowment Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy Riley Special Exhibition Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition Fund, and the RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund.