God is a performance by Ragnar Kjartansson, which plays with the concept of repetition and duration. The artist appears in the persona of a classic “crooner”, accompanied by his collaborator, the pianist Davíð Þór Jónsson, and an orchestra on a stage evoking a mid 20th century pop-concert. Ragnar, repeating the phrase “Sorrow Conquers Happiness”, sways to an eight-bar melody in a minor key, which crescendos to its culmination, and then starts again.

Admission is free. Due to the 6 hours’ duration of the performance, the audience can leave the theatre and return at any time. To help us secure a seat for you, please select your preferred arrival time.

Ragnar Kjartansson (b. 1976) lives and works in Reykjavík, Iceland. His practice is inspired by the emotional power of music and drama, classical theatre and theatrical rituals, with solemn pathos and repetition as recurrent themes. Expertly mixing beauty and banality, the artist uses irony as a tool to access complex social situations and to forge connections between distant cultural references. Kjartansson’s work is highly diverse, ranging from performance to film, painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation.