# Ragnar Kjartansson: Epic Waste of Love and Understanding - Hardcover

by **Ragnar Kjartansson** (Artist), **Malou Wedel Bruun** (Editor), **Tine Colstrup** (Editor)

**Surveying the films, installations and performances of the superstar Icelandic artist**

Widely recognized as one of the most exciting and significant voices of contemporary art, Icelandic performance and multimedia artist Ragnar Kjartansson takes a loving yet critical look at Western culture. His longform video installations explore the dynamics of repetition, often through music, and develop into feats of endurance, both physical and emotional. _The Guardian_ deemed his 2012 work _The Visitors_ "the best artwork of the 21st century."  
Combining quintessential videos such as _Me and My Mother_ and _Bliss_ with lesser-known paintings and sculptures, the retrospective at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art presents three new pieces made for the exhibition (including the title work with the plywood flames burning on the catalog cover) and captures the litany of senses Kjartansson has embraced without hesitation in his 20-year career. New work created for the anthology includes a painted plywood monument to "an epic waste of love and understanding" and a new performance piece titled _Scaredman_. The richly illustrated catalog includes personal contributions and dialogues in response to each of the artist's works on display by leading contemporary artists and scholars. Curator Tine Colstrup discusses _A Lot of Sorrow_ with Marina Abramovic, and reflects on _Terrible, Terrible_ with Pussy Riot activist Maria Alyokhina. The book proves itself an invaluable guide to Kjartansson's examination of love, identity, melancholy, masculinity and power.  
**Ragnar Kjartansson** (born 1976), a native of Reykjavik, Iceland, studied at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and the Royal Academy of Arts, Stockholm. He represented Iceland at the 53rd Biennale di Venezia in 2009 and participated in the 2013 _Encyclopedic Palace of the World_ at the 55th Biennale di Venezia in 2013.

**Number of Pages:** 160

**Dimensions:** 0.9 x 12.9 x 9.9 IN

**Publication Date:** April 09, 2024

## Details

- **Price:** 55.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 55.00 USD | In stock |

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- Ragnar Kjartansson: Epic Waste of Love and Understanding - Hardcover

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