Elmgreen Elmgreen & Dragset

Michael Elmgreen was born in 1961, in Copenhagen, Denmark and Ingar Dragset was born in 1969, in Trondheim, Norway. They met in 1994, in Elmgreen’s home town, when he was dedicated to performative poetry and Dragset studied theatre. They started working together in 1995, and in 1997 they moved to Berlin, where they live.  With connections to institutional criticism, their work aims to reconfigure the conventions of art presentation and reception. If the spaces where they show their work rarely come out intact as a result of the sculptural installations they create, suffering multiple transformations, the relationship of the objects with the scenarios and the discourses that involve them are also questioned. To the humour present in the pieces, a performative component is added, to which identity, social and political concerns are connected. The practice of installation in public space is another constant in the work of the duo.                                                                                                                      From the many exhibitions, the following solo exhibitions stand out: Kunsthalle Zurich, 2003; Tate Modern, London, 2004; Malmõ Konsthall, 2007; Bojmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, 2011; Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, 2014; Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2016; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich and Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2018; Statens Museum of Art, Copenhagen, 2019 and Espoo Museum of Modern Art, 2020. In 2003, they were awarded the Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; in 2009, the Special Mention at the 53^rd Venice Bienale and, in 2020, the B.Z-Kultrupreis. From their curatorships: the 15^th Istambul Biennial, 2017 and There I Belong – Hannershoi, Statens Museum for Art, Copenhagen, 2019. Their work is represented in various collections, such as the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporâneo, Mexico City; Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin; Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek; Malmõ Art Museu, Malmõ; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; MUMOK, Vienna; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Zürich Kunsthalle.

 

SN, November 2020