Ragnar Kjartansson: The Brown Period
The Brown Period is a yearlong exhibition by Ragnar Kjartansson at i8 Grandi. This presentation, which is Kjartansson's sixth solo show at i8, opened on 18 January and will be on view until 18 December 2025. Throughout the year, the artist will exhibit both new and existing works.
The Brown Period is an extended project, intended to be a dive into the realms of the experimental. As i8 Grandi is a short walk from Kjartansson's studio, the artist will treat the gallery as a project space where lucky strikes and failure collides. For the artist, the bass drum in the project space will be new video works and studio shorts, mixing drama, music, and cinematic indulgence. The works on view will continue to change throughout the year as the show evolves.
The current presentation, which is the third iteration of The Brown Period, debuts a new video:Me and My Mother 2025, the sixth installation from the artist’s canonical series. First filmed in 2000 when Kjartansson was 24 years old, the artist and his mother, actress Guðrún Ásmundsdóttir, film a new performance every five years in the same location within his mother's living room. In each video, Ásmundsdóttir spits repeatedly on Kjartansson, evoking humour, horror, and absurdity. While the two have a positive relationship, the series delves into their roles as artist and actor, son and mother, and their intertwined emotional and physical bonds. Kjartansson requests that his mother perform—spit—and Ásmundsdóttir obliges; this ongoing work captures the intricacies and respect within their bond, as well as memorialises the ageing of the pair over a quarter century. Works from the Me and My Mother series are in illustrious international collections including The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.
Accompanying the new video in the adjacent gallery is a presentation of recent works on paper by Kjartansson. Memorialising everyday moments in his life, from his daughter playing to studio visits, these watercolour and ink works have never before been exhibited. Works on paper are an important element of Kjartansson's practice, as he continuously sketches his life.
Spanning far longer than traditional museum or gallery shows, i8 Grandi's programming focuses on concepts of space and time. The sustained duration of the annual format allows artists to consider how time affects their work, and the fluidity encourages audiences to revisit the changing installations. Kjartansson's is the fourth yearlong presentation at i8 Grandi, following exhibitions by Andreas Eriksson in 2024, B. Ingrid Olson in 2023, and Alicja Kwade in 2022.
