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Ragnar Kjartansson in "Realms of the Real"
Descriptive audio version available here.
Music echoes throughout a greenhouse in Iceland as artist Ragnar Kjartansson and a crew of close friends and long-time collaborators film his latest project, a performance set inside Europe’s oldest banana plantation. The eccentricity of the location is typical of Kjartansson’s singularly playful and intuitive approach, balancing humor, absurdity, and pathos in ambitious works that transform the mundane into the profound. The artist has created an hour-long, nine-channel video installation featuring eight musicians, a series of works with his mother created over the course of twenty-five years, a six-month-long performance during the Venice Biennale where he painted 144 portraits of his friend wearing a Speedo, and more. This documentary short follows Kjartansson as he describes his unique path to becoming an artist, reflects on decades of work in performance, film, painting, and music, and creates a new work, A Boy and a Girl and a Bush and a Bird (2025). “For me, being an artist is a way to live life creating moments,” says the artist. “You meet your friends, and you play, and you try to create a situation that’s magical.”
This film was directed by Stephanie Wang-Breal, produced by Nan Sandle, edited by Colin Nusbaum, and photographed by James Fideler.
Credits
Director: Stephanie Wang-Breal. Executive Producer: Tina Kukielski. Series Producer: Nick Ravich. Producer: Nan Sandle. Editor: Colin Nusbaum. Director of Photography: James Fideler. Associate Producer: Andrea Chung. Associate Curator: Jurrell Lewis. Design & Animation: Momentist, Inc. Composer: Andrew Orkin.
Additional Cinematography: Magnús Ingvar Bjarnason, Tyler McPherron, Hákon Sverrisson. Assistant Camera: Guðjón Hrafn, Leví Baltasar Jóhannesson, Dean Snodgrass. Gaffer & Electric: Viktor Orri Andersen. Location Sound: Benedikt Árnason & Agnar Friðbertsson. Field Producer: Becky Pederson. Fixers: Andri Freyr & Kitty Von-Sometime.
Additional Art21 Staff: Makda Amdetsyon, Lauren Barnett, Hannah DeGarmo, Lolita Fierro, Ian Forster, Grace LeCates, Emma Nordin, Jessica Svenson, Noor Tamari, Nora Wimmer. Interns: Candice Cirilo, Emma Kanne, Billie Lam, Asante Marie Owusu-Brafi, Aarya Silwal, Maria Syville, Emilia Copeland Titus.
Post-Production Supervisors: Amelia Garner & Jennifer Wanamaker. Video Post-Production Service: Cut + Measure. Video Post-Production Producer: Alex Laviola. Colorist: Chris Ramey.
Online & Conform: David Gauff. Post-Production Coordinator: Mary Grace Duffy. Audio Post-Production Service: Post Romantic.
Re-Recording Mixer & Sound Editor: Gisela Fullà-Silvestre. Assistant Sound Editor: Dan Weisselberg. Audio Description & Captions: Sasha Hecht & Andre Kelman. Quality Control: Adam Stout. Narration: Louise Eliasof. Additional Music: Trey Toy.
Additional Video Editor: Regina Spurlock. Visual Effects: Daniel de Graaf & Isaiah King. Visual Effects Artists: Logan Cuddemi & Mike Houston. Assistant Editors: Isabella Morelli Avilán, Stephanie Cen, Sarah Yi Fineman, Michelle Hanks.
Artwork Courtesy: Ragnar Kjartansson, i8 Gallery, Luhring Augustine Gallery.
Legal Counsel: Donaldson Callif Perez.
Archival Material: Tiffany Edwards, Þorvaldur Gröndal, Lamay Photo, Ari Magg, Christopher McDonald, Rafael Pinho, Viðar Hákon Söruson, Hördur Svenisson, Gísli Galdur Þorgeirsson, Hlynur A Vilmundarson.
Special Thanks: The Art21 Board of Trustees, Markús Þór Andrésson, Guðrún Ásmundsdóttir, Anne Carson, Lilja Gunnarsdóttir, Henning Larsen Architects of Batterii® architects, Davíð Þór Jónsson, Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir, Studio Ólafur Elíasson.
Filming Locations Provided By: Agriculture University of Iceland, i8 Gallery, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Sudurland College.
Series Created By: Susan Dowling & Susan Sollins.
Original Production Funding Provided By: The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Lambent Foundation, Agnes Gund, Melony and Adam Lewis, National Endowment for the Arts, Teiger Foundation, Sarah Arison, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Dealer Tire, Arts, Equity, & Education Fund™, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Elyse and Lawrence B. Benenson, Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia, Tim and Lauren Schrager Family Foundation.
This program is a production of Art21, Inc. which is solely responsible for its content.
© 2026 Art21, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Closed captionsAvailable in English, German, Romanian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian
Through the Art21 Translation Project, multilingual audiences from around the globe can contribute translations, making Art21 films more accessible worldwide.
Interested in showing this film in an exhibition or public screening? To license this video please visit Licensing & Reproduction.
Ragnar Kjartansson was born in 1976 in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he lives and works. He studied at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, Reykjavík, Iceland, from 1997 to 2001, and spent a year studying at the Royal Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2000. Through performance, music, video, drawing, painting, and sculpture, Kjartansson explores humanity’s fundamental concerns, from myth-making and national identity to love and beauty. Engaging with the history of music, television, and performance, the artist employs simple yet effective strategies, such as repetition and extended duration, to transform everyday experiences into profound works of art that resonate with the human condition.
“For me, being an artist is a way to live life creating moments. You meet your friends, and you play, and you try to create a situation that’s magical.”
Ragnar Kjartansson
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"Realms of the Real" Educator Guide
Educator Guides provide information about selected artists and themes, questions for classroom discussions, and hands-on activities that provide students with a fundamental understanding of creative and critical thinking processes.