Icelander Ragnar Kjartansson is one of eight international artists participating in a free public exhibition celebrating New York’s Central Park Conservancy’s 35th anniversary. The exhibition, opening today May 15th, is called Drifting in Daylight and is the centerpiece of the anniversary celebration.
Ragnar is the biggest star of Iceland’s modern day art scene and has been going from strength to strength internationally since representing Iceland at the Venice Biennial in 2009.
Ragnar’s performative work is called S.S. Hangover and features an old wooden fishing boat from Reykjavík sailing in a continuous loop around the Harlem Meer in Central Park’s North end, carrying a brass sextet from the Grammy-nominated Metropolis Ensemble playing a composition by Kjartan Sveinsson, a founding member of post-rock band Sigur Rós.
According to a press release from Ragnar’s Icelandic gallery i8, the boat is a haphazard hybrid of Greek, Icelandic and Venetian ship design that the artist transformed into a remake of a theatrical boat that appeared on dry land in a swanky party scene in the American mystery comedy film “Remember Last Night?“ from 1935.
The boat sails under the flag of a fat Pegasus (winged horse) which Ragnar regards as a symbol for the artist struggling to reach sublime heights.
S.S. Hangover was debuted in 2013 at the 55th Venice Biennale.
DATES: May 15 – June 20, 2015, Fridays and Saturdays, 12-6pm
https://player.vimeo.com/video/127188057
Icelander Ragnar Kjartansson is one of eight international artists participating in a free public exhibition celebrating New York’s Central Park Conservancy’s 35th anniversary. The exhibition, opening today May 15th, is called Drifting in Daylight and is the centerpiece of the anniversary celebration.
Ragnar is the biggest star of Iceland’s modern day art scene and has been going from strength to strength internationally since representing Iceland at the Venice Biennial in 2009.
Ragnar’s performative work is called S.S. Hangover and features an old wooden fishing boat from Reykjavík sailing in a continuous loop around the Harlem Meer in Central Park’s North end, carrying a brass sextet from the Grammy-nominated Metropolis Ensemble playing a composition by Kjartan Sveinsson, a founding member of post-rock band Sigur Rós.
According to a press release from Ragnar’s Icelandic gallery i8, the boat is a haphazard hybrid of Greek, Icelandic and Venetian ship design that the artist transformed into a remake of a theatrical boat that appeared on dry land in a swanky party scene in the American mystery comedy film “Remember Last Night?“ from 1935.
The boat sails under the flag of a fat Pegasus (winged horse) which Ragnar regards as a symbol for the artist struggling to reach sublime heights.
S.S. Hangover was debuted in 2013 at the 55th Venice Biennale.
DATES: May 15 – June 20, 2015, Fridays and Saturdays, 12-6pm
https://player.vimeo.com/video/127188057
