"The Visitors" By Ragnar Kjartansson

  

My Mother in front ot the exhibition.

    "The Visitors," an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, is among the most profoundly touching displays I have ever seen. The installation is set up with nine enormous screens, each featuring a different musician performing an instrument, in an a dark room similar to a movie theater. They are all performing the same song, each contributing an individual component to the symphony from a different room or space than the other.  Completely immersed in this hour-long performance, the audience gathered in the main room, either sitting on the bench or lying down on the floor. 

     Instead of reading the name of the exhibition and artist statement before going into the experience, I decided to read it after.  While reading the sign and doing my research, I soon discovered that this piece was created from nine separate rooms in a single mansion. The Rokeby Estate is a mansion situated on the Hudson River in New York.  I also read that this is how they chose to debut  the album they worked on as well as the value of friendship and community along their journey.  For an hour, this alternating melody was played in brief intervals.  It was interesting to find such a safe space in the dark, but listening to these artists play all alone made them seem vulnerable and approachable which in turn made the audience feel the same. Even if there were just a few isolated instances where someone would go off on a musical tangent or hit a few additional notes on their own, the band's performance was nonetheless a group effort. 

    My mother and I went to the exhibition together, and she connected it to how we felt about me leaving for college. She connected with the idea that, despite their inability to see one another in person, they were all a part of something larger, sharing knowledge about one another and music. Overall, it was a stunning performance that genuinely made me tear with joy. I would suggest it to everyone, whether they are an artist or not.