Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors

Installation
Closing September 28, 2025
Floor 6

Ragnar Kjartansson’s beloved video installation The Visitors (2012) is back at SFMOMA. In this mesmerizing hour-long work projected across nine screens, viewers are transported once again to the serene setting of Rokeby in upstate New York as the Icelandic artist and his musician friends perform together in various rooms of this historic mansion.

Preview: The Visitors

A woman in headphones sits alone playing an accordion in an ornately decorated but slightly ramshackle drawing room
A naked Caucasian man plays the guitar in a bathtub, Kjartansson

Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors, 2012; jointly owned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired through the generosity of Mimi Haas and Helen and Charles Schwab; © Ragnar Kjartansson; photo: Elísabet Davids, courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and i8 Gallery, Reykjavik

Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors (still), 2012; nine-channel HD video projection with sound, 64 min., dimensions variable; jointly owned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired through the generosity of Mimi Haas and Helen and Charles Schwab; © Ragnar Kjartansson

Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors, 2012; jointly owned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired through the generosity of Mimi Haas and Helen and Charles Schwab; © Ragnar Kjartansson; photo: Elísabet Davids, courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and i8 Gallery, Reykjavik

Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors, 2012 (installation view, SFMOMA; 2022); jointly owned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired through the generosity of Mimi Haas and Helen and Charles Schwab; © Ragnar Kjartansson; photo: Katherine Du Tiel

Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors, 2012 (installation view, SFMOMA; 2022); jointly owned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired through the generosity of Mimi Haas and Helen and Charles Schwab; © Ragnar Kjartansson; photo: Katherine Du Tiel

Revisiting Soundtracks

What a beautiful place to seek shelter, gather strength, and enjoy the company of friends. Take a 360⁰ audio/video tour of The Visitors from its prior installation as part of the 2017 Soundtracks exhibition. This immersive video is best experienced using a mobile device and headphones.