Living through art is a better way to live - not necessarily making art, but being surrounded by art. I think it's just as banal as trying to show my…

- Ragnar Kjartansson

What draws me to theater and religion are these rituals made to make you feel emotion. It's so banal in an interesting way. In visual art it's about …

- Ragnar Kjartansson

The best trick I learned was when a priest came to me when I was an altar boy and said, "Always, when you make a mistake, pretend it's ritual." It's …

- Ragnar Kjartansson

I had a total revelation with the feminist moment, with Carolee Scheeman and Marina Abromovic and of course Joan Jonas; that was a big breakthrough w…

- Ragnar Kjartansson

I think my favorite Rolling Stones song is "No Expectations." I always think and talk through songs.

- Ragnar Kjartansson

I often really like to play with documenting my performances cinematically. Cinematic documentation is much more interesting than the performance its…

- Ragnar Kjartansson

I was very prejudiced when I started arts school. I, like all of those kids, was like, "I don't like this modern stuff." I came to arts school with a…

- Ragnar Kjartansson

I'm so used to being in a theater where there is always a narrative, but I'm more about the still moment, the painter inside me.

- Ragnar Kjartansson

A lot of the stuff I've done is inspired by the location. Usually my works are pretty site-specific. There are a lot of shows that are older works, b…

- Ragnar Kjartansson