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Elmgreen & Dragset, Bent Pool, 2019, Steel, stainless steel, aluminum, concrete, lacquer, lights, 600 x 392 x 344 cm, courtesy the artists, City of Miami Beach, photography by Andrea Rosetti, on permanent display, Pride Park, Miami Beach, USA © Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset

Portrait of Elmgreen & Dragset

Details:

Michael Elmgreen
b. 1961, Copenhagen, Denmark

Ingar Dragset
b. 1969, Trondheim, Norway

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Elmgreen & Dragset pursue questions of identity and belonging and investigate social, cultural, and political structures in their artistic practice. They are interested in the discourse that can arise if objects are radically re-contextualized and if normal modes for the representation of art are altered.

Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset are based in Berlin and have worked together as an artist duo since 1995. They have presented numerous solo exhibitions at prominent institutions worldwide, including Centre Pompidou-Metz, France (2023–24), Fondazione Prada, Milan (2022); The Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2019–20); The Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018–19); Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv (2016); UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2016); PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2015); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2013–14); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2011); ZKM Museum of Modern Art, Karlsruhe (2010); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain (2009); Serpentine Gallery, London (2006); Tate Modern, London (2004); and Kunsthalle Zürich (2001).

Their work has been included in the NGV Triennial, Melbourne, Australia (2023); Bangkok biennial (2018), Istanbul biennial (2013, 2011, 2001), Liverpool biennial (2012), Singapore biennial (2011), Moscow biennial (2011, 2007), Venice biennial (2009, 2003), Gwangju biennial (2006, 2002), São Paulo biennial (2002), and Berlin biennial (1998). In 2009, they received a special mention for their exhibition The Collectors, representing both the Nordic and Danish Pavilions at the 53rd Venice Biennale. Elmgreen & Dragset curated the 15th Istanbul Biennial in 2017.

Elmgreen & Dragset are renowned for their large-scale installations, including Van Gogh’s Ear (2016), a gigantic vertical swimming pool presented first by Public Art Fund at the Rockefeller Center in 2016 and now installed at K11 in Hong Kong, Prada Marfa (2005), a full scale replica of a Prada boutique installed along U.S. Route 90 the middle of the Texan desert, and Short Cut (2003), comprised of a Fiat Uno and a camper trailer, which appear to emerge from the ground, first exhibited in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Milan, and now in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. In December 2020, the The Hive (2020) was installed permanently at Moynihan Train Hall, where it now welcomes visitors entering this renovated extension to Penn Station in New York. In Berlin, the artists won the German Government's competition for a “Memorial to the Homosexuals Persecuted under the National Socialist Regime,” which has been permanently installed in Tiergarten park since 2008 and their outdoor sculpture Statue of Liberty (2018) is permanently installed at the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart.

The artists were shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Prize, Guggenheim Museum, New York (2000) and won the Preis der Nationalgalerie, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2002). In 2012 Elmgreen & Dragset were selected for London’s Fourth Plinth Commission in Trafalgar Square. In 2015, the artists received honorary doctorates at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and in 2020 they were awarded the B.Z.-Kulturpreis in Berlin.

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Elmgreen & Dragset, Dilemma, 2017, Patinated bronze, stainless steel, 520 x 300 x 47 cm, courtesy the artists, Ekebergparken, photography by Florian Holzerr, on permanent display, Ekebergparken, Oslo, Norway © Elmgreen & Dragset

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Elmgreen & Dragset, Watching, 2016, Polished stainless steel, 320 x 100.2 x 84.9 cm, courtesy Furhmann Family Collection, photography by Steven Probert © Elmgreen & Dragset

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Elmgreen & Dragset, Han, 2012, Polished stainless steel with mechanical eye, movements, 190 x 140 x 90 cm, courtesy the artists, photography by Anders Sune Berg © Elmgreen & Dragset

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Elmgreen & Dragset, Prada Marfa, 2005, Adobe bricks, plaster, aluminium frames, glass, panes, MDF, paint, carpet, canvas, Prada shoes and bags, 480 x 760 x 470 cm, courtesy Art Production Fund, New York; Ballroom Marfa, Marfa; the artists, photography by James Evans & Lizette Kabré, on permanent display, Marfa, Texas, USA © Elmgreen & Dragset

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Elmgreen & Dragset, Dirty Socks (Stainless Steel), 2021, Stainless steel, steel, lacquer, socks, 119 x 62 x 80 cm © Elmgreen & Dragset

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Elmgreen & Dragset, Gay Marriage, 2010, Porcelain urinals, taps, stainless steel tubing, 110 x 43 x 123 cm, courtesy Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway, photoraphy by Elmar Vestner © Elmgreen & Dragset

The Hive by Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, The Hive, 2020, stainless steel, aluminum, polycarbonate, LED lights, and lacquer, commissioned by Empire State Development in partnership with Public Art Fund for Moynihan Train Hall, Photo: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY © Elmgreen & Dragset

Maybe (Not) by Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, Maybe (Not), 2024, Bronze, stainless steel, lacquer, 548.6 cm × 320 cm × 61 cm, courtesy New Orleans Museum of Art © Elmgreen & Dragset

Life Rings by Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, Life Rings, 2021, Stainless steel, lacquer, concrete, 755 x 325 x 300 cm, courtesy Princess Estelle Cultural Foundation, photography by Ruth Anna Eriksson © Elmgreen & Dragset

The Guardian by Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, The Guardian, 2023, patinated bronze, 114-3/16" × 41-5/16" × 33-1/2" (290 cm × 104.9 cm × 85.1 cm) © Elmgreen & Dragset

Did I Grow? by Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, Did I Grow?, 2024, marble, brushed steel, numbers and height engraved in black, Overall: 81-7/8" × 21-5/8" × 27-9/16" (208 cm × 54.9 cm × 70 cm) Figure: 56-1/8" × 21-5/8" × 11-1/4" (142.6 cm × 54.9 cm × 28.6 cm) © Elmgreen & Dragset

Action Painter, Fig. 1 by Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, Action Painter, Fig. 1, 2022, bronze, stainless steel, aluminium, lacquer, Figure: 61" × 36-5/8" × 22-7/16" (154.9 cm × 93 cm × 57 cm) Floor Plate: 3/16" × 70-7/8" × 78-3/4" (0.5 cm × 180 cm × 200 cm) © Elmgreen & Dragset

Short Story by Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, Short Story, 2020, installation comprised of two human figures, one racquet, and a tennis ball, figures casted in bronze and lacquered, ball in marble, overall installation dimensions variable, 64-15/16" × 27' × 78' (164.9 cm × 823 cm × 2,377.4 cm), as installed in Sagaponack, New York © Elmgreen & Dragset

Tokyo no Sora by Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, Tokyo no Sora, 2024, stainless steel, oil paint, 51-3/16" × 51-3/16" × 1" (130 cm × 130 cm × 2.5 cm) © Elmgreen & Dragset

This Is How We Play Together, Fig. 4 by Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, This Is How We Play Together, Fig 4, 2023, bronze, lacquer, 57-1/16" × 22-7/16" × 22-1/16" (144.9 cm × 57 cm × 56 cm) © Elmgreen & Dragset