Ragnar Kjartansson: The Sky in a Room : St Mary Magdalene Church, Tanworth-in-Arden, England

Ikon presents The Sky in a Room, a major off-site project with Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, organised in collaboration with Artes Mundi (Cardiff). The Sky in a Room involves professional singers taking turns to perform an ethereal arrangement of Il Cielo in una Stanza, the famous song by Gino Paoli, originally released in 1960. Simultaneously playing the church organ, the singers repeat the piece uninterrupted for five hours a day for nine days, like a never-ending lullaby.

The performances take place each day, 2-7pm, at St Mary Magdalene Church, Tanworth-in-Arden, in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside. The setting is profoundly appropriate for Kjartansson’s work - which is characterised by a sense of melancholy - as it is also the place where singer-songwriter Nick Drake is buried. The project, originally co-commissioned by Artes Mundi, Cardiff and Amgueddfa.