3rd February – 11th March 2018 / National Museum Cardiff Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson returns to Cardiff to present a new site-specific durational performance, The Sky in a Room. As part of the work, all of the paintings, objects and decorative furniture from the National Museum Cardiff’s Art in Britain 1700–1800 gallery have been removed. At the centre of the now empty space is the 18th century chamber organ originally commissioned by the Welsh patron of the arts Sir Watkins Williams Wynn in 1774. Throughout the day, across the five-week duration of the performance, the new focus is a solo performer seated at the organ playing and singing Il Cielo In Una Stanza (The Sky in a Room), a famous Italian love song written by Gino Paoli in 1959. The song was originally inspired by Paoli, a young struggling songwriter who fell in love with a prostitute in a brothel with a lilac ceiling in Genoa. The lyrics recall the power of love to disappear walls into forests and ceilings into sky. Kjartansson’s work similarly transforms the Museum, dissolving space and time through the hypnotic repetition of the song. The exhibition has been made possible by the Derek Williams Trust Artes Mundi Purchase Prize, which enables National Museum of Wales to purchase artworks by Artes Mundi shortlisted artists. During Artes Mundi 6 Ragnar Kjartansson was selected to receive the award by Jonathan Watkins, Director, IKON Gallery, Birmingham UK. The Sky in a Room is also generously supported by Art Fund and will be the first performance work to be acquired by National Museum of Wales. Video by Ewan Jones Morris