Ragnar Árni Ólafsson

guitarist and composer

Ragnar Árni Ólafsson is a composer and guitarist from Reykjavík, Iceland, working both there and abroad in a variety of contexts. He's an avid collaborator, scorer, improviser, deviser, and performer of notated, improvised, videoed, electronic musics. Among his upcoming projects are a release featuring compositions based on AI text generators’ hallucinatory descriptions of music, interpreted by himself, Áslaug Magnúsdóttir (IS/DK) and Gunnar Gunnsteinsson (IS), and a television style web series produced with longtime collaborator Luke Deane (UK/NL) featuring improvisations, absurdist comedy and video art. He is currently working on his first release of solo compositions and improvisations.

contact: ragnararni at pm dot me

portrait by Sam Walton

Next concerts

19/12/2024 - GRASpunt, Amsterdam (NL)
special live presentation of snake_cloks.mp4 with Luke Deane
part of GRASnacht #3

25+26/01/2025 - Dark Music Days, Reykjavík (IS)
new video work with Luke Deane, public premiere
part of the Dark Music Days short film programme

Past concerts

29/11/2024 - Punctum, Prague (CZ)
duo imrovisation as surf structures with Jakub Šulík
part of concert series [SKRON'K]

09/11/2024 - Cashmere Radio, Berlin (DE)
solo sets on the entertainment, presented by Nina Guo

27/10/2024 - WORM, Rotterdam (NL)
Electric Umbrella #20: Olafsson & Hijmans Duo with Wiek Hijmans

29/08/2024 - Hamraborg Festival, Kópavogur (IS)
ensemble player in Chamber Music IV by Pétur Eggerts

27/08/2024 - Mengi, Reykjavík (IS)
solo show endurlýsing, double bill with Gunnar Gunnsteinsson

6-9/12/2023 - Gunnar Gunnsteinsson - a janitor's manifesto, 2023 BE-NL Tour:
6/12/2023 de Appel, Amsterdam (NL)
7/12/2023 Batavierhuis, Rotterdam (NL)
8/12/2023 Au Kalme, Brussels (BE)
9/12/2023 Het Bos, Antwerpen (BE)

23/11/2023 - hcmf// Huddersfield (UK)
Nick Roth + Ragnar Árni Ólafsson, Huddersfield Art Gallery

18/11/2023 - hcmf// Huddersfield (UK)
AT THE FIRST SOUND, THE WHOLE WORLD FREEZES, Huddersfield Art Gallery

02/11/2023 - Mengi, Reykjavík (IS)
Ensemble Adapter & FRIENDS

29/04/2023 - Varia, Rotterdam (NL)
Extratonal Infrastructure // duo with Luke Deane

previous concerts predate the creation of this webpage and thus are omitted