In his performances, which often extend over several weeks or months, the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson explores not only his own physical and psychological limits and the themes of early performance art, but also the artist's status and the different images of his role. For his installation "The Schumann Machine" (2008), created for Manifesta 7, he spent several hours every day for two weeks singing the 1840 song cycle Dichterliebe by Robert Schumann. A characteristic feature of his performances are the many melancholy but also absurdly comical moments.

This book, now in its second printing, unites for the first time all of Kjartansson's works related to music from 2001 to 2012. It includes contributions by Philip Auslander, Heike Munder, Markús πór Andrésson and a conversation between Edek Bartz and Ragnar Kjartansson.