Elmgreen & Dragset
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About
Throughout their career, Elmgreen & Dragset have redefined the way in which art is presented and experienced. Drawing from disciplines as divergent as institutional critique, social politics, performance and architecture, in their sculptures and installations the artists reconfigure the familiar with characteristic wit and subversive humour. Exploring social and sexual politics and unveiling the power structures embedded in the artworks and everyday designs that surround us, their work raises questions around social models and social spaces, and prompts a re-thinking of the status quo.
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Biography
Based in Berlin, Michael Elmgreen (b. 1961, Denmark) and Ingar Dragset (b. 1969, Norway) have worked as a collaborative duo since the mid 1990s. Well-known for siting a Prada boutique in a Texan desert in 2005, the artists have been commissioned to create a number of sculptures internationally within the public realm: in 2016, their large-scale work Van Gogh's Ear, which takes the form of a displaced swimming pool sitting upright, transformed the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Channel Gardens at the Rockefeller Center, New York; A Greater Perspective, an oversized and non-functional bronze telescope, was installed on New York's High Line from 2015 to 2016, simultaneously drawing attention to and disrupting a secret view of the Statue of Liberty; HAN, a contemporary revisioning of the Danish national icon The Little Mermaid, was installed permanently at Kulturevaerftet Helsingør, Denmark in 2012; Powerless Structures, Fig. 101, the winning proposal for the Fourth Plinth Commission selected by the City of London, was on view in London's Trafalgar Square from 2012–13; and in 2012 the artists were commissioned by the Munich city council to create and curate a programme of installations across Munich's main squares. The resulting year-long artistic project, A Space Called Public / Hoffentlich Öffentlich, included the artists' own work as well as the work of a number of other contemporary artists.
Elmgreen & Dragset have staged numerous national and international institutional exhibitions at venues including Musée d'Orsay, Paris (2024–25); Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul (2024); Kunsthalle Praha, Prague (2023); Centre Pompidou, Metz (2023); Fondazione Padra, Milan (2022); Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen (2021); EMMA Museum, Espoo (2020–21); Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2019); Statens Museum of Art, Copenhagen (2019); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018); Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2018); Museum Haus Lange, Kunstmuseen Krefeld (2017); FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2016); Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2016); the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2016); PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2015); Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, touring to Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (2014); Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2013–14); ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsrühe (2010); Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (2011); MUSAC, León (2009); Malmö Konsthall (2007); Serpentine Gallery, London (2006); MCA Chicago (2005); Tate Modern, London (2004); and Kunsthalle Zurich (2001). In 2003, Elmgreen & Dragset won the prestigious Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, and the artists were awarded Special Mention at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) for The Collectors at the Danish and Nordic Pavilions. The artists have conceived, written and directed theatre productions at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2009), and the Performa 11 biennale, New York (2011), in addition to curating exhibitions including There I Belong - Hammershoi at the Statens Museum for Art, Copenhagen (2019) and the 15th Istanbul Biennale (2017).
Elmgreen & Dragset were recipients of the B.Z-Kulturpreis (2020) and 14th Robert Jacobsen Prize (2021).
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News
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Elmgreen & Dragset: L’Addition at Musée d’Orsay
October 14, 2024On view from 15 October 2024, this major architectural intervention in the museum's grand hall features new figurative sculptures, several of which are inspired by the museum's collections of nineteenth century art.Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset sit down with Josh Spero at the Financial Times
October 12, 2024'We say we dress up the white cube in drag. It temporarily gets another identity in order to perform a different role . . .'Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: Spaces at Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul
September 3, 2024Featuring over 60 works within five immersive installations — a full-scale family house, a public pool, a restaurant with an adjacent kitchen, and an artist's studio—this exhibition (3 September 2024–23 February 2025) marks the duo's most extensive presentation in Asia to date.Read More -
Works by Elmgreen & Dragset and Flora Yukhnovich feature in the 2023 NGV Triennial
December 3, 2023This major presentation (3 December 2023–7 April 2024) brings together 120 artists and 100 projects. Flora Yukhnovich's A Taste of a Poison Paradise , 2023,...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: READ – on view at Kunsthalle Praha
November 1, 2023The artists transform Kunsthalle Praha into a curious public library (16 November 2023–22 April 2024) bringing together works by sixty international artists and celebrating Prague’s...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: Bonne Chance on view at the Centre Pompidou Metz
June 15, 2023Bonne Chance , the first solo exhibition in a French institution by the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, is on view at the Centre Pompidou...Read More -
Now open at Fondazione Prada – Elmgreen & Dragset: Useless Bodies?
March 31, 2022A major exhibition (31 March–22 August 2022) exploring the present condition of the body in the post-industrial age in which it seems that our physical...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset are awarded the 14th Robert Jacobsen Prize
October 6, 2021Congratulations to Elmgreen & Dragset on being awarded the 14th Robert Jacobsen Prize from Stiftung Würth. The jury praised the 'social relevance and extreme poignancy'...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset’s The Lifeguard is installed in Denmark
June 28, 2021Just in time for summer, The Lifeguard , a new sculpture by Elmgreen & Dragset, is now installed at the new Vestamager public pool in...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset – Short Story at Copenhagen Contemporary
April 21, 2021With their installation Short Story (21 April–24 October 2021), the Danish-Norwegian artist duo Emgreen & Dragset have transformed Copenhagen Contemporary’s Hall 2 into the setting...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: 2020 at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland is extended until 21 March 2021
February 5, 2021Elmgreen & Dragset's major exhibition 2020 is now on view until 21 March 2021. Elmgreen & Dragset often transform the gallery space into a completely...Read More -
Installations by Stan Douglas and Elmgreen & Dragset open at Penn Station
January 5, 2021On view from 1 January 2021 at Penn Station's new Moynihan Train Hall, three ambitious site-specific permanent installations by artists Stan Douglas, artist duo Elmgreen...Read More -
The New York Times previews Penn Station’s major new permanent installations, featuring work by Stan Douglas and Elmgreen & Dragset
December 30, 2020Sunlight is not typically associated with the dingy basement vibe that envelops commuters passing through Penn Station. But natural light spills across the new Moynihan...Read More -
Parley for the Oceans x Vortic
October 2, 2020Victoria Miro is delighted to be a member of Parley Collective and participate in Parley for the Oceans x Vortic with an exhibition of works...Read More -
Wallpaper* writes about Elmgreen & Dragset’s Bent Pool
December 2, 2019The swimming pool isn’t a new motif in the work of Scandinavian art duo Elmgreen & Dragset. From a diving board sticking out of a...Read More -
Bent Pool by Elmgreen & Dragset is unveiled in Miami
November 26, 2019Commissioned by the City of Miami Beach’s Art in Public Places Program, and located in Pride Park, in front of the Miami Beach Convention Center,...Read More -
The Guardian reports on Elmgreen & Dragset’s return to their 2005 work Prada Marfa, now a Texas landmark
October 3, 2019For the first time in almost 15 years, the artists Elmgreen & Dragset have returned to an installation they expected to ‘just disappear’. By Janelle...Read More -
Frieze reviews Elmgreen & Dragset: Sculptures at Nasher Sculpture Center
October 3, 2019Elmgreen & Dragset Hold up a Queer Mirror to the Art World The sculptures of artist-collaborators and former lovers Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset have...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: Sculptures at Nasher Sculpture Center
August 14, 2019The Nasher Sculpture Center presents Elmgreen & Dragset: Sculptures , an exhibition (14 September 2019–5 January 2020) that marks the Scandinavian duo’s first major museum...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: It’s Not What You Think at the Blueproject Foundation, Barcelona
June 7, 2019It’s Not What You Think transforms Il Salotto into an abandoned, underground boiler room with tubes crisscrossing the space. Industrial metal tubes of various sizes...Read More -
Wallpaper* dives into Phaidon’s new Elmgreen & Dragset monograph
May 27, 2019Berlin-based artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset have never staged an official mid-career retrospective – but that’s not because the opportunity hasn’t presented itself. Rather,...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset and Grayson Perry feature in United Artists for Europe
May 12, 2019Based on an original idea by Bernard-Henri Lévy, this unprecedented initiative will take place in London on May 21-23 and June 3 2019, to coincide...Read More -
There I Belong. Hammershøi by Elmgreen & Dragset at SMK, Copenhagen
April 26, 2019Masterpieces by the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi presented (27 April–1 September 2019) in unconventional company, juxtaposed with international contemporary art. Also included is work by...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset give an artist talk at the Art Institute of Chicago
January 29, 2019The duo discuss their work in a free talk on 5 February 2019. Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset have worked together since 1995 at the...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset participate in the Bangkok Art Biennale
October 21, 2018The duo's new outdoor sculpture, Zero, is on display at the East Asiatic Building until 3 February 2019. Read more Image: Elmgreen & Dragset, Zero...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: This Is How We Bite Our Tongue at the Whitechapel Gallery
September 27, 2018The first major UK survey of artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, this exhibition (27 September 2018–13 January 2019) spans twenty years of extraordinary artistic collaboration....Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset talk to the Evening Standard and reveal their new Whitechapel Gallery installation
September 25, 2018The Whitechapel Gallery has undergone many changes in its long history but none as surprising as this. The Evening Standard can now reveal that artists...Read More -
Artist talk: Elmgreen & Dragset
September 20, 2018Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset discuss their major exhibition and new commission for the Whitechapel Gallery at 3pm on Saturday 29 September 2018. Tickets £15,...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset talk to the Financial Times ahead of their exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery
August 31, 2018 Read More -
The Art Newspaper reports on works from Elmgreen & Dragset’s Istanbul Biennial exhibition travelling to Munich
December 19, 2017Elmgreen & Dragset bring a bit of Istanbul Biennial to Germany Curators of this year’s show, with the theme of home and neighbourhoods, show key...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset talk to ArtReview about the 15th Istanbul Biennial
September 25, 2017As the 15th Istanbul Biennial opens, Nicole O'Rourke talks to the curators In April 2016 it was announced that Scandinavian artist-duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar...Read More -
The 15th Istanbul Biennial, curated by Elmgreen & Dragset
September 16, 2017The 15th Istanbul Biennial will take place between 16 September and 12 November 2017. Elmgreen & Dragset bring together artworks by 55 artists from 32...Read More -
Artnet reveals the full list of artists for the 15th Istanbul Biennial, curated by Elmgreen & Dragset
July 24, 2017By Caroline Elbaor From September 16 – November 12, the 15th Istanbul Biennial—which is curated by Elmgreen & Dragset and is centered around the concept...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset feature in Faurschou Foundation’s exhibition of recent acquisitions
July 18, 201718 August 2017 - 26 January 2018 Faurschou Foundation is pleased to present the exhibition, Recent Acquisitions , which introduces a selection of the newly...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset reveal details of the Istanbul Biennial to The Art Newspaper
June 16, 2017Artist duo commissioning 30 works for exhibition focusing on idea of home. By Gareth Harris The high-profile Scandinavian artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, who took...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset in ARoS Triennial
June 2, 2017Work on display by the duo includes Powerless Structures fig. 55 - Cruising Pavillion , 1998 / 2017, featured in The Present (3 June -...Read More -
A new commission by Elmgreen & Dragset for Ekebergparken, Oslo
June 1, 2017'Dilemma' is a newly commissioned work by Elmgreen & Dragset at Ekebergparken in Oslo – a public park collecting and commissioning permanent outdoor sculpture. Read...Read More -
Artnet reports on Elmgreen & Dragset’s exhibition Die Zugezogenen at Kunstmuseen Krefeld
March 13, 2017Elmgreen & Dragset Trick an Entire City for Their Latest Show A family relocates to a museum in the spectre of post-Brexit Europe. By Hili...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset in The Beguiling Siren is Thy Crest at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw
March 9, 201725 March - 18 June 2017 The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw opens in its new premises on the banks of the Vistula with...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset Die Zugezogenen (The Newcomers) at Kunstmuseen Krefeld
February 19, 201719 February - 27 August 2017 For their solo exhibition Die Zugezogenen (The Newcomers ), Elmgreen & Dragset treat Haus Lange as it was originally...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset talk to Artforum about their ideas for the 2017 Istanbul Biennial
December 7, 2016The fifteenth Istanbul Biennial has announced that its thematic concern, “A Good Neighbour,” will address the notions of homes, neighborhoods, and modes of living in...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset announce the title and conceptual framework of the 15th Istanbul Biennial
December 7, 2016a good neighbour The 15th Istanbul Biennial 's title and conceptual framework was announced by the curators Elmgreen & Dragset at a media conference on...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset create a campaign poster for W's tenth anniversary Art Issue
October 27, 2016THE ART OF POLITICS: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN 15 ARTISTS TAKE ON THE CAMPAIGN POSTER In this charged election season, we should all show that we...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset in MetaModern at Palm Springs Art Museum
October 9, 2016October 9th, 2016 – February 27th, 2017 Modernist design—that radical and iconoclastic break with the past—is now itself a thing of the past, so much...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset at FLAG Art Foundation, New York
September 27, 2016Elmgreen & Dragset, present Changing Subjects , a solo exhibition (1 October - 17 December 2016) featuring new and existing works from the duo’s twenty-year-long...Read More -
Just out: Protest publication
September 23, 2016This publication accompanies Protest at Victoria Miro, 23 September - 5 November 2016, an exhibition of historical and contemporary works by artists concerned with the...Read More -
Power to... the art of protest, as featured in The Observer
September 23, 2016Politically engaged art is thriving again, finding new ways to challenge in a complex digital world. We look at the rich history of protest art...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset profiled on Bloomberg Brilliant Ideas
August 30, 2016Elmgreen & Dragset on 'Brilliant Ideas' The European artist duo of Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset is otherwise known as Elmgreen & Dragset. For 20...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: Van Gogh's Ear at Rockefeller Center, New York
International Exhibitions and Projects13 April - 16 August 2016. This spring, artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset will transform the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: Powerless Structures at Tel Aviv Museum of Art
1 April - 27 August 20161 April 2016 - 27 August 2016. Elmgreen & Dragset: Powerless Structures Artist duo Michael Elmgreen (b. Denmark, 1961) and Ingar Dragset (b. Norway, 1969)...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset interviewed in the The Guardian about Van Gogh's Ear
March 30, 2016Artists Elmgreen and Dragset bring 'Van Gogh's Ear' to New York. By Nadja Sayej. The Scandinavian duo have a unique take on the Dutch master’s...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset interviewed in Randian
April 30, 2014The Fiction of Elmgreen & Dragset: Interview. By Christopher Moore. The art of Michael Elmgreen (b. 1961, Copenhagen, Denmark) and Ingar Dragset (b.1969, Trondheim, Norway)...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset interviewed in ArtReview
October 1, 2013Elmgreen & Dragset. By Kimberly Bradley. Read our feature on the work of the Scandanavian duo, as it takes a darker turn, from the October...Read More -
Elmgreen & Dragset Unveil Powerless Structures, Fig. 101
February 20, 2012Elmgreen & Dragset's new commission Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square was unveiled by Joanna Lumley on Thursday 23 February....Read More
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Gallery Exhibitions
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Parley for the Oceans x Vortic
2 Oct – 2 Nov 2020 Miro PresentsAn online exhibition of works by Elmgreen & Dragset and Celia Paul.Learn More -
Protest
23 Sep – 5 Nov 2016 London Gallery IDoug Aitken, Jules de Balincourt, Vlassis Caniaris, Elmgreen & Dragset, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Christian Holstad, Isaac Julien, Yayoi Kusama, Wangechi Mutu, Alice Neel, Chris Ofili, Richard Prince, Sarah Sze, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Kara Walker.Learn More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: Self-Portraits
13 Oct – 7 Nov 2015 Victoria Miro MayfairThe exhibition features a new series of works that are representations of museum wall labels of other artists’ works, including David Hockney, Ross Bleckner, Roni Horn, Martin Kippenberger, and Nicole Eisenmann, among others.Learn More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: Harvest
21 Sep – 8 Dec 2012 London Gallery IThe exhibition showcases two precisely choreographed environments which at first may appear visually and conceptually diverse, but through Elmgreen & Dragset's own refined systems of logic, they bring to life a multi-layered set of narratives that play upon childhood memories, and question issues linked to our cultural heritage and the institutional through a personally charged perception.Learn More -
Elmgreen & Dragset: Too Late
14 Oct – 15 Nov 2008 London Gallery IThe exhibition features a re-staging of the entire Victoria Miro space. Visitors will be met by a total transformation of the gallery's interior architecture via several new interconnecting large-scale installations by Elmgreen & Dragset.Learn More -
Absent Without Leave
17 Feb – 17 Mar 2007 London Gallery IWorks by 12 international artists, with new commissions by Elmgreen & Dragset, Loris Gréaud, Terence Koh, Systems House, Andro Wekua, and Jordan Wolfson; an installation of 40 new paintings by Dan Colen; and projects by Jeppe Hein, Kirsten Pieroth, Michael Sailstorfer, and Andreas Zybach.Learn More
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