Ragnar Kjartansson was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1976, where he continues to live and work. His recent solo exhibitions and performances include “The Palace of the Summerland” at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (2014), “The Explosive Sonics of Divinity” at the Volksbühne, Berlin (2014), “The Visitors” at Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2012–13), Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Vienna (2013), Hangar Biocca (2013–14), “It’s Not the End of the World” at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2012–13), “Endless Longing, Eternal Return” at the Frankfurter Kunstverein (2011), and “Take Me Here By the Dishwasher: Memorial for a Marriage” at the BAWAG Foundation, Vienna (2011). His first American solo museum exhibition, “Song,” was organized by the Carnegie Museum of Art in 2011 and traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Additionally, Kjartansson recently participated in “The Encyclopedic Palace” at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013) and performed “A Lot of Sorrow” featuring The National at MoMA P.S.1 (2013). Kjartansson was the recipient of Performa’s 2011 Malcolm McLaren Award for his performance of Bliss, a twelve-hour live loop of the final aria of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and in 2009, he was the youngest artist to represent Iceland at the Venice Biennale.