The things they do: Symposium about Ragnar KjartanssonÂ’s work

The things they do: Symposium about Ragnar Kjartansson’s work, Barbican Centre

• LocationLondon, Silk Street
• Type
• Salary
• Artformcombined arts, interdisciplinary arts, music, visual arts
• ContactEmma Chiplin Emma.chiplin@barbican.org.uk

Description

29 July 2016, 10am - 5pm
Barbican Garden Room and Conservatory 
Book tickets here

Join us for an experimental one-day symposium, curated by Nicholas Ridout from QMUL and Professor Joe Kelleher from the University of Roehampton, in response to the exhibition Ragnar Kjartansson in the Art Gallery this summer.

Kjartansson’s work brings together live performance, music, film, painting and drawing and often includes experiments in repetition and endurance, contemporary music, Icelandic literature and romantic melancholy.

This day of performances, presentations and conversations from artists, writers and academics will explore the theme of appropriation and is inspired by Kjartansson’s interest in making art out of the things that other people do. Dressing up as Death to entertain children or playing the saddest song you know for six hours non-stop, Kjartansson’s staging of everyday and peculiar behaviours, in which memory, entertainment and personal connections are all thrown together, gives them a strange new life. At once sincere and ridiculous - a kind of theatre. Why does this move us?

Over the course of the day you might find yourself dropping in on a very long piano recital, watching how a famous philosopher takes a drink of water, or learning specialist techniques for cheating at cricket. These and other performance events are mixed together with a series of rich and informative talks about Kjartansson’s work, the pleasures of entertainment and about being ridiculous and sincere. There will also be plenty of time for conversation and participation throughout the day. Lunch is provided, and there will be a drink for everyone at the end of the day.

The symposium includes contributions from Emma Bennett, Karen Christopher, Broderick Chow, Richard DeDomenici, Laure Fernandez, Jordan McKenzie, Stacy Makishi, Madison Moore, Hayley Newman, Gary Stevens, Simon Vincenzi and David Williams.

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The things they do: Symposium about Ragnar KjartanssonÂ’s work