Elmgreen Elmgreen & Dragset

Michael Elmgreen was born in 1961 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Ingar Dragset in 1969 in Trondheim, Norway. They met in 1994 in Elmgreen's hometown when he was working on performance poetry and Dragset was studying theatre. They started working together in 1995 and, in 1997, moved to Berlin, where they currently live. 

With links to institutional criticism, their work seeks to reconfigure the conventions of presenting and receiving art. If the spaces where they exhibit rarely emerge intact from their sculptural installations, undergoing multiple transformations, the relationship between the objects and the settings and discourses that surround them are also questioned. In addition to the humour present in the pieces, there is a performative component linked to identity, social and political concerns. The practice of installation in public spaces is another constant in the duo's career.

Their numerous exhibitions include solo shows at the Kunsthalle Zurich, 2003; Tate Modern, London, 2004; Boijmans 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; Espoo Museum of Modern Art, 2020; Fondazione Prada, Milan 2022; Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2023-24; Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul 2024-25; and Museum of Old and New Art, Barridale 2024-25. In 2003, they won the Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; in 2009, the Special Mention of the 53rd Venice Biennale; and, in 2020, the B.Z-Kultrupreis. They have curated the 15th Istanbul Biennial, 2017 and There I Belong - Hammershoi, Statens Museum for Art, Copenhagen, 2019. They are represented in various collections, including Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Paris; Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City; Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin; Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk; Malmö Art Museum, Malmö; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; MUMOK, Vienna; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; and Zürich Kunsthalle.

Sofia Nunes