Elmgreen & Dragset

The artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset during the appointment of honorary doctorates at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 2015

Michael Elmgreen (born 1961; Copenhagen, Denmark) and Ingar Dragset (born 1969; Trondheim, Norway) have worked together as an artist duo since 1995. Their work explores the relationship between art, architecture and design.

Elmgreen & Dragset live and work in Berlin. Their work is known for its subversive humor and wit, while simultaneously addressing social and cultural concerns.[1][2]

Life and work

The duo met in Copenhagen in 1994, when Michael Elmgreen, who was born in the city in 1961, was writing and performing poetry, and Ingar Dragset, a Norwegian born in 1969, was studying theatre.[3] They started collaborating in 1995 and moved to Berlin in 1997. In 2006, they bought a large 1000m^2 former water-pumping station dating to 1924 in Berlin's Neukölln borough from the city[3] and converted it into a studio.[4] In 2008, Elmgreen moved to London, and in 2015, he moved back to Berlin.[5]

Since 1997, the artists have presented a great number of architectural and sculptural installations in an ongoing series of works entitled 'Powerless Structures'[6] in which they transformed the conventions of the 'white cube' gallery space, creating galleries suspended from the ceiling, sunk into the ground or turned upside down.[7] For the Istanbul Biennial in 2001, they constructed a full-scale model of a typical Modernist Kunsthalle descending into the ground while located outdoors among ancient ruins. Their work has also been shown in the Berlin, Istanbul, Liverpool, Moscow, São Paulo, Singapore, Gwangju Biennials.

Further exhibitions include transforming the Bohen Foundation in New York into a 13th Street Subway Station in 2004; their best-known project Prada Marfa, a Prada boutique inaugurated in 2005 and sited in the middle of the Texan desert; and their exhibition The Welfare Show in 2005–2006 at Serpentine Gallery, London / The Power Plant, Toronto / Bergen Kunsthall, Norway / BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, which was critically acclaimed.[2][8][9][10]

For the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 they curated the exhibition The Collectors in the neighbouring Danish and Nordic Pavilions (which include Norway, Sweden, and Denmark), an unprecedented merging of two international exhibition venues. For their show, they invited fellow artists Maurizio Cattelan, Tom of Finland, Han & Him, Laura Horelli, William E. Jones, Terence Koh, Klara Lidén, Jonathan Monk, Nico Muhly, Norway Says, Vibeke Slyngstad, Thora Dolven Balke, Nina Saunders, and Wolfgang Tillmans, among others.

In 2011, their sculpture Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 was chosen as the winner of the Fourth Plinth Commission to be displayed on the Fourth plinth of London's Trafalgar Square.[11] Their bronze sculpture of a boy astride a rocking horse questions the tradition for war monuments to celebrate either victory or defeat.[12] The work is now permanently installed outside the Arken Museum of Modern Art.[13]

In 2013, they curated an extensive public art program in Munich entitled “A Space Called Public/Hoffentlich Öffentlich”[14] and transformed the former textile galleries of the V & A Museum into the grand family home of fictional architect Norman Swann.[15] Their exhibition series “Biography” took place in 2014–2015 at the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo and the SMK–National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen. In 2015 their exhibition “Aéroport Mille Plateaux” turned the PLATEAU Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul into an airport inspired by the ideas of philosopher Gilles Deleuze.[16]

Van Gogh's Ear, 2016, in New York City's Rockefeller Center

For their solo exhibition “The Well Fair” in 2016, the duo transformed the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing into a fictional art fair.[17] Also in 2016, the artists installed Van Gogh's Ear at Rockefeller Center in New York; the 9-meter (30-foot) high, empty swimming pool stands upright on its shortest side.[18]

The artists’ first major overview in the UK, “This is How We Bite Our Tongue” was held at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, in 2018. The exhibition consisted of a large-scale site-specific installation and a survey of their sculptural works. The Whitechapel Pool, realised specifically for the show, transformed the ground floor of the gallery into an abandoned public swimming pool fictionally dated to 1901 and related to the gentrification of the East End of London.[19]

In 2019, Elmgreen & Dragset held their first major solo exhibition in the United States: “Sculptures” at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. Later that year, they installed a new public sculpture, “Bent Pool”, located in Miami Beach's Pride Park, which takes the shape of a large swimming pool arching backwards to form an inverted U shape.

In Finland, the artist duo transformed the premises of EMMA – Espoo Museum of Art, into a surreal carpark environment for their exhibition “2020”, which coincided with the 25th year of Elmgreen & Dragset's collaboration. Later that year, “The Hive” was inaugurated at the new Moynihan Hall Train Hall in Penn Station, New York. Suspended from the ceiling, “The Hive” is an upside-down, fictional cityscape illuminated by lights that will hang permanently above the 31st Street Mid-block Entrance Hall in New York City.

The following year, The Princess Estelle Cultural Foundation invited Elmgreen & Dragset to create a public sculpture for the Royal Djurgården Parks in Stockholm. “Life Rings”, a towering sculpture made up of interlocking, stainless steel life rings, now stands at 7.5 meters (25 ft) high by the waterside of the public park. In 2021, the artists also received the 14th Robert Jacobsen Prize from the Würth Foundation, in Künzelsau, Germany. To celebrate the award a solo exhibition was held at the collection's Würth Museum 2 in Künzelsau.

More recently, Elmgreen & Dragset's extensive exhibition “Useless Bodies?” was held at Fondazione Prada in Milan through Spring and Summer of 2022. Spanning more than 3,000 square meters, the exhibition drew focus to the status of the human body in today's digitally saturated, post-industrial world, looking at our working conditions, living modes and the health and leisure industries. In winter 2022, the artist duo will open their forthcoming exhibition “After Dark” at By Art Matters Museum in Hangzhou, China.

Permanent installations

Prada Marfa, 2005, in Marfa, Texas

In 2003, Elmgreen & Dragset won the German Government's competition for a memorial in Tiergarten park in Berlin, in memory of the gay victims of the Nazi regime, which was unveiled in May 2008.[20][21]

Several of their sculptures are now permanently installed for the public including their commission for the Fourth plinth, now outside the Arken Museum of Modern Art; Prada Marfa (2005), on the U.S. Highway 90 in Texas; Dilemma, a site-specific sculpture of a boy on a high diving board overlooking a fjord on the outskirts of Oslo and Han, a polished steel sculpture of a young man on a rock located in the centre of the harbor in Helsingør, Denmark.[22] Han was installed in 2012 and is based on Edvard Eriksen's famous The Little Mermaid (statue). The figure sits in a similar pose, challenging conventional portrayals of masculinity.[23]

In 2012 Elmgreen & Dragset were also selected for London's Fourth Plinth Commission in Trafalgar Square, where they created Powerless Structures, Fig. 101. Since then, Elmgreen & Dragset have realized: Van Gogh's Ear Archived 2020-08-10 at the Wayback Machine, first presented by Public Art Fund at the Rockefeller Center in 2016 and since exhibited with K11 Musea in Hong Kong and Wuhan; Bent Pool (2019) in Pride Park, Miami Beach; The Hive (2020), welcoming visitors to Moynihan Train Hall in Penn Station, New York; and most recently, Life Rings at Royal Djurgården, Stockholm (2021).

Performative works

In 2007, Elmgreen & Dragset developed Drama Queens, a theatre play about 20th-century art history with six remote-controlled versions of iconic sculptures, for Skulptur Projekte Münster.[24] During the 2008 Frieze Art Fair, they staged Drama Queens, this time enlivened by the voices of leading stage stars such as Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes, at The Old Vic in London.[25]

Other activities

In 2019, Dragset was a member of the jury that chose Lawrence Abu Hamdan for the Edvard Munch Art Award.[26]

Recognition

• 2000 – Hugo Boss Prize (nominated)
• 2002 – Preis der Nationalgalerie, awarded by Hamburger Bahnhof
• 2006 – Arken Art Prize[27]
• 2009 – Special Mention at the Venice Biennale, for The Collectors
• 2009 – Kritikerlaget/Norwegian Critics’ Association Kunstkritikerprisen/Art Critics’ Prize, awarded for The Collectors[28]
• 2012 – Eckersberg Medal[29]
• 2012 – Carl Nielsen og Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat/Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Grant, awarded in conjunction with an exhibition at Den Frie in Copenhagen[30]
• 2015 – Honorary doctorate, awarded by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)[31][32]
• 2020 – The B.Z.-Kulturpreis, Berlin, Germany
• 2021 – Awarded the 14th Robert Jacobsen Prize of the Würth Foundation, Künzelslau, Germany
• 2022 – Soho House Established Artists Award, London, UK
• 2022 – Ny Carlsberg Fondet Prize, Ny Carlsberg Glypotek, Copenhagen, Denmark

Art market

Elmgreen & Dragset are represented by Pace Gallery (since 2020), Helga de Alvear, Kukje Gallery, Massimo De Carlo, Victoria Miro Gallery, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Perrotin, and Taka Ishii Gallery.[33] They previously worked with Johann König until 2022.[34]

Solo exhibitions (selected)

2023

• Bonne Chance, Centre Pompidou-Metz, France
• READ, Kunsthalle Praha, Czechia

2022

• Useless Bodies?, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy
• Stand By Me, Massimo de Carlo Pièce Unique, Paris, France
• After Dark, By Art Matters Museum, Hanghzhou, China

2021

• The Nervous System, Pace, New York, USA
• New Tenants, Perrotin, Paris, France
• Elmgreen & Dragset, Würth Museum 2, Künzelsau, Germany
• Life Rings, Princess Estelle Foundation, Royal Djurgårten, Stockholm, Sweden
• Short Story, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark

2020

• 2020, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland
• Short Story, König Gallery, Berlin, Germany
• Pool, No. 8, Gangnam, Seoul, Korea
• Elmgreen & Dragset, Pace, East Hamptons, USA

2019

• "Sculptures", Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
• "It's Not What You Think", Blueproject Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
• "Adaptations", Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
• "Overheated" Archived 2019-10-30 at the Wayback Machine, Massimo De Carlo, Hong Kong

2018

• "This Is How We Bite Our Tongue", Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
• "To Whom It May Concern", FIAC Hors les Murs, Place Vendôme, Paris, France
• "Elmgreen & Dragset", Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
• "We Are Not Ourselves" Archived 2019-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal

2017

• "Die Zugezogenen" Archived 2019-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, Museum Haus Lange, Kunstmuseen Krefeld
• "Dilemma", Ekebergparken, Oslo, Norway

2016

• "The Well Fair", Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
• "Van Gogh's Ear" Archived 2020-08-10 at the Wayback Machine, Public Art Fund, Rockefeller Center, New York, US
• "Powerless Structures" Archived 2016-06-26 at the Wayback Machine, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
• "Elmgreen & Dragset present Galerie Perrotin at the Grand Palais", Grand Palais, Paris, France
• "Changing Subjects", The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA

2015

• "Aéroport Mille Plateaux", PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
• "Self-Portraits", Victoria Miro Gallery, London, U.K.
• "Stigma" Archived 2016-03-19 at the Wayback Machine, Galleria Massimo De Carlo, London, U.K.
• "Stigma" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy
• '"Lot", Galería Helga de Alvear, Madrid, Spain
• "Past Tomorrow", Galerie Perrotin, New York, USA

2014

• "Biography", National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
• “Biography”, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway
• "The Old World", Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong

2013

• "Tomorrow", Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
• "A Space Called Public", Munich (curated by Elmgreen & Dragset), Germany

2012

• "Harvest", Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK
• "Han", permanent public artwork installed at Kulturværftet Helsingør, Denmark
• "Powerless Structures, Fig. 101", The Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square, London, UK

2011

• "Happy Days in the Art World" Archived 2011-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, Performa 11, New York, USA / Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland
• "The One & The Many", Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam
• "Amigos", Galería Helga de Alvear, Madrid, Spain
• "The Afterlife of the Mysterious Mr. B", Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
• "Elmgreen & Dragset", The Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
• "It's Never Too Late to Say Sorry", daily performance, Sculpture International Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• "Silent wishes and broken dreams", Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Germany

2010

• "Celebrity: The One & The Many", ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany

2009

• "The Collectors" – The Danish and Nordic Pavilions, 53rd Venice Biennale, Venezia, Italy
• "Drama Queens", Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
• "Trying to Remember What We Once Wanted to Forget", MUSAC, León, Spain

2008

• "Too Late", Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK
• "Drama Queens", Old Vic Theatre, London, UK
• "Home is the Place You Left", Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim, Norway
• "Gedenkort für die im Nazionalsozialismus verfolgten Homosexuellen", Berlin, Germany
• "Side Effects", Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France.[35]

2007

• "This is the first day of my life" Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden[36]
• "Ti sto pensando", Villa Manin, Centre for Contemporary Art, Passariano, Italy
• "A Change Of Mind", Kunst am Bauzaun, Museion Bozen, Italy

2006

• "The Welfare Show", Serpentine Gallery, London/The Power Plant, Toronto, Ontario, Canada[8]
• "Disgrace", Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Miami, USA
• "The Incidental Self", Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan[37]
• "Would You Like Your Eggs A Little Different This Morning ?", Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy

2005

• "Prada Marfa", Art Production Fund/Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, Texas[38][39]
• "The Brightness of Shady Lives", Galeria Helga de Alvear, Madrid, Spain
• "The Welfare Show", Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway / BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, Austria
• "Forgotten Baby", Wrong Gallery, New York, USA
• "End Station", Bohen Foundation, New York, USA
• "Linienstrasse 160, Neue Mitte", Klosterfelde, Berlin, Germany[40]

2004

• "Intervention 37", Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
• "Blocking The View", Tate Modern Gallery, London, UK[41][42]
• "Moving Energies" – Aspekte der Sammlung Olbricht : Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Museum Folkwang Essen, Essen, Germany

2003

• "Paris diaries", Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France[43]
• "Phone Home", Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, USA
• "Short Cut", Nicola Trussardi Foundation, Milan, Italy
• "Spaced out", Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• "Please, Keep Quiet", Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark
• "Constructed Catastrophes, Fig. 2", CCA, Kitakyushu, Japan
• "Don't leave me this way", Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France

2002

• "How are You Today", Galleria Massimo de Carlo, Milan, Italy
• "Powerless Structures, Fig. 229", Galeria Helga de Alvear, Madrid Spain
• "Museum", Sala Montcada/Fundacio La Caixa, Barcelona, Spain
• "Suspended Space", Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
• CGAC, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

2001

• "Taking Place", Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
• "Opening Soon", Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, USA
• "A Room Defined by its Accessibility", Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark
• "Linienstrasse 160", Klosterfelde, Berlin, Germany
• "Powerless Structures, Fig. 111", Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany

2000

• "Zwischen anderen Ereignissen", Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, Germany[44]
• Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia

1999

• Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark
• "Powerless Structures, Fig. 57-60", The Project, New York, USA

1998

• "Dug Down Gallery / Powerless Structures, Fig. 45", Galleri i8 & Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

1997

• "Powerless Structures", Galleri Campbells Occasionally, Copenhagen, Denmark
• "Twelve Hours of White Paint/Powerless Structures, Fig. 15", Galleri Tommy Lund, Odense, Denmark

Group exhibitions (selected)

2022

• Politics in Art, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
• Every Moment Counts—AIDS and its Feelings, Henie Onstad Art Center, Høvikodden, Norway
• Art in the Elevator, Salzburg Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria
• CASH on the Wall, Stiftung Kunstforum Berliner Volksbank, Berlin, Germany
• MARMOR / MARBLE, Kunsten, Aalborg, Denmark
• Matrix of Gender, Bomuldsfabriken, Arendal, Norway
• HEM / HOME, Konstgalleriet Slottsholmen, Malmö, Sweden
• Why can't we live together, Marburg Kunstverein, Marburg, Germany
• Blue Jeans – Myth and Marketing, Museumsquarier Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
• And Now the Good News, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Türkei
• Exposition homosexuels et lesbiennes dans l’Europe nazie, Metz City Hall, Metz, France
• Impossibles architectures, Musees des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, Nancy, France
• Heroic Bodies Archived 2022-09-15 at the Wayback Machine, Rudolph Tegners Museum, Denmark

2021

• Statements, Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo, Italy
• Work It Out, Kunsten, Aalborg, Denmark
• Psychopathia Sexualis, Overgaden, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Tempo, Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Heilbrunn, Germany
• SkultpurOdense21, Hollufgård Skultpurparken, Odense, Denmark
• Wild/Schön, Kunsthalle Emden, Emden, Germany
• Grave Monuments, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark
• Monument for the Cemetery, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, Korea
• OASIS, Tallinn Architecture Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
• Sobressalto: Coleção Norlina e José Lima, CAA, Portugal
• It's Just a Phase, KUK, Trondheim, Norway

2020

• Mythologies – The Beginning and End of Civilisations, ARoS Triennal, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark
• Wände | Walls, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart Germany Studio Berlin, Berghain, Berlin, Germany
• Shapeshifters, Mälmo Konstmuseum, Mälmo, Sweden
• Animals in Art^[permanent dead link‍], ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst, Ishøj, Denmark
• I Put A Spell On You: On Artists Collaborations, SCAD, Savannah, USA
• “WALKING. Movements North of Bolzano” – The collection of Erling Kagge, Museion, Bolzano, Italy
• On the Frontline of Contemporary Art: From the Taguchi Art Collection, Shimonoeseki Art Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
• WANTED!, Grand Palais, Paris, France
• Szene Berlin, Schloss Derneburg, Hall Art Foundations, Holle, Germany
• OH! MY CITY, Paradise Art Space, Incheon, Korea
• Who Am I, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
• Friendship as a Way of Life, UNSW Galleries, Paddington, Australia
• A Greater Perspective, The606, Damen Arts Plaza, Chicago, USA

2019

• "There I Belong. Hammershøi by Elmgreen & Dragset", Statens Museum fur Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark
• "Sculpture Milwaukee" Archived 2019-10-30 at the Wayback Machine, Wisconsin, USA
• "Art's Biggest Stage: Collecting the Venice Biennale 2007-2019" Archived 2019-10-30 at the Wayback Machine, Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts, USA
• "Art & Porn" Archived 2019-08-21 at the Wayback Machine, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
• "Art & Porn", Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
• "Blickachsen 12", Bad Homburg, Germany
• "Political Affairs – Language is not innocent" Archived 2020-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
• "A Cool Breeze", Galerie Rudolfinium, Prague, Czech Republic
• "Grand Hotel Abyss" Archived 2019-10-30 at the Wayback Machine, steirischerherbst'19, Graz, Austria
• "La Source", Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles, France
• "Tainted Love", Villa Arson, Nice, France
• "Schöne Sentimenten" Archived 2021-01-21 at the Wayback Machine, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium

2018

• "Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body", The Met Breuer, New York, USA
• "Beyond Bliss", Bangkok Art Biennial, Bangkok, Thailand
• "It's Never Too Late To Say Sorry", Aspen Museum of Art, Aspen, USA
• "Soziale Fassaden", MMK Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• "Minimalism: Space. Light. Object.", National Gallery of Singapore, Singapore
• "Far From Home" Archived 2019-05-14 at the Wayback Machine, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
• "No Place Like Home", Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal
• "Zeitspuren – The Power of Now", Kunsthaus Centre d’Art Pasquart, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
• "Talk Show Festival" Archived 2019-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, La Panacée MoCo, Montpellier, France
• "Ngorongoro II", Berlin, Germany

2017

• "WAITING. Between Power and Possibility", Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
• "No Place Like Home", Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
• "Cool, Calm and Collected" Archived 2019-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
• "Commissions from Performa's Archives", Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
• "Kuss. Von Rodin bis Bob Dylan" Archived 2019-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, Bröhan Museum, Berlin, Germany
• "OVER THE RAINBOW", Praz Delavallade, Los Angeles, California, USA
• "Die Schönheit im Anderen/The Beauty of Difference", Schloss Lieberose, Lieberose, Germany
• "Meet me in Heaven", Schloss Tüßling, Tüßling, Germany
• "THE GARDEN: End of Time; Beginning of Time" Archived 2019-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
• "The Beguiling Siren is Thy Crest", Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland
• "Physical Mind Restless Hands", Galerie Micky Schubert, Berlin, Germany

2016

• "The Others" Archived 2019-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
• "Animality", Marian Goodman Gallery, London, UK
• "Protest", Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK
• "Moved", Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
• "No Man is an Island – The Satanic Verses" Archived 2019-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
• "Staged! Spectacle and Role Playing in Contemporary Art" Archived 2019-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, Kunsthalle München, Munich, Germany
• "ta.bu", Maison Particulière Art Center, Brussels, Belgium

2015

• "What We Call Love, From Surrealism to Now", performance piece, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.
• “Man in the Mirror”, Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
• “Poor Art–Rich Legacy. Arte Povera and parallel practices 1968–2015”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway
• “Slip of the Tongue”, Punta Della Dogana, Venice, Italy
• “Panorama”, High Line Art, New York, USA
• “Infinite Experience”, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
• “Days push off into nights”, Spring Workshop, Hong Kong
• “All the World's a Stage. Works from the Goetz Collection”, Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid, Spain
• “No Hablaremos de Picasso”, Palacio Municipal Kiosko Alfonso, A Coruña, Spain
• “more Konzeption Conception now”, Museum Morsbroich, Germany

2014

• “Power Memory People – Memorials of Today”, KØS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Køge, Denmark
• “GOLD”, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, USA
• “do it Moscow”, Independent Curators International, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
• “Man in the Mirror”, Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
• “Attention Economy”, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
• “Do Not Disturb”, Gerhardsen Gerner Gallery, Oslo, Norway
• “LOVE AIDS RIOT SEX II, Art Aids Activism from 1995 until today”, NBGK | Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany

2013

• “Mom, am I barbarian?” Archived 2016-05-02 at the Wayback Machine, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
• “auf Zeit”, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden Baden, Germany

Powerless Structures, Fig. 11, 1997 at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark.

2012

• "Nude Men", Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria
• "Common Ground", Public Art Fund, New York, USA
• Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
• “TRACK – A contemporary city conversation”, S.M.A.K., the Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium

2011

• "Untitled" (12th Istanbul Biennial), Istanbul, Turkey
• "You Are Not Alone", Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona, Spain

2010

• "Fourth Plinth Commission, Six new proposals", The Foyer, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, UK

Collections

Elmgreen & Dragset's work is in the permanent collection of several museums across the world including:

• Mumok, "Museum of modern art, Ludwig Foundation, Vienna, Austria
• TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria[45]
• Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mechelen, Belgium
• Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
• Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Belgium
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
• Kunsthalle Praha, Prague, Czech Republic[46]
• K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong SAR, China
• Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
• ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
• Dokk1, Aarhus, Denmark
• Københavns Billedkunstudvalg, Copenhagen, Denmark
• KØS Museum of art in public spaces, Køge, Denmark
• KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Aalborg, Denmark
• Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
• Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde, Denmark
• National Gallery of Denmark, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark
• EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland
• Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki, Finland
• Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris, France
• Fondation Emerige, Paris, France
• Fonds national d'art contemporain, Paris, France
• European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• Galerie Orangerie-Reinz, Cologne, Germany
• Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
• Kunstverein Springhornhof, Neuenkirchen, Germany
• Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• KAT_Kunst am Turm, Bad Honnef-Rhöndorf, Germany
• Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen, Germany
• Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Krefeld, Germany
• Kunstverein Springhornhof, Neuenkirchen, Germany
• Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
• Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
• Sammlung Boros, Berlin, Germany
• Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany
• Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dresden, Germany
• Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• Stiftung Denkmal, Berlin, Germany
• Sunpride Foundation, Hong Kong
• Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
• Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
• Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy
• Museion, Bolzano, Italy
• Fukutake Art Museum Foundation, Naoshima, Japan[47]
• Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon[48]
• Colección Jumex, Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico
• Sculpture International Rotterdam (SIR), Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway
• Ekebergparken Sculpture Park, Oslo, Norway
• Kistefos-Museet, Jevnaker, Norway[49]
• Equinor Art Programme, Stavanger, Norway
• Kistefos-Museet, Jevnaker, Norway
• Kode Art Museums, Bergen, Norway
• Kunstneriske Forstyrrelser, Tranøy, Norway
• Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway
• Park of the School of Agriculture, Ås, Norway
• Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim, Norway
• Anyang Foundation for Culture & Arts, Anyang, South Korea
• Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
• Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, Spain
• CGAC (Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea), A Coruña, Spain
• MUSAC (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León), León, Spain
• Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden
• Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
• Nicola Erni Collection, Zug, Switzerland
• Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
• Soho House, London, UK
• Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK
• Art Production Fund / Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, USA
• Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, USA
• Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, USA
• Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA
• The Donum Estate, Sonoma, USA
• Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, USA
• Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, USA

Commissions

• Powerless Structures, Fig. 101, Mayor of London's Fourth Plinth Commission, Trafalgar Square, London, UK, 2012
• Han commissioned by city of Helsingør, the sculpture installed in the center of the harbor basin as a protagonist in Kulturhavn Kronborg, 2012
• Louis Vuitton New Bond Street Maison and Louis Vuitton Librairie, London, 2012[50]
• Van Gogh's Ear, Rockefeller Center, New York, 2016[51]
• To Whom It May Concern, FIAC HORS LES MURS, Place Vendôme, Paris, 2018[52]
• Zero, East Asiatic, Bangkok Art Biennale, 2018
• The Hive, Moynihan Train Hall, New York, USA, 2020
• Life Rings, Royal Djurgården, Stockholm, Sweden, 2021

Catalogues

• Useless Bodies? (Milan: Nava Press, 2022). ISBN 9788887029802
• The Nervous System (New York: Pace, 2021). ISBN 9781948701488
• Elmgreen & Dragset: Sculptures (Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2019). ISBN 9783775746229
• Elmgreen & Dragset (London: Phaidon, 2019). ISBN 9780714875712
• This Is How We Bite Our Tongue (London: Whitechapel Gallery, 2018). ISBN 9780854882656
• 15th Istanbul Biennial: a good neighbour: Exhibition and Stories (Istanbul: Istanbul Foundation for Culture and the Arts, 2017). ISBN 9786055275372
• Die Zugezogenen (London: Koenig Books, 2017). ISBN 9783960981930
• The Others (Berlin: König Galerie / London: Koenig Books, 2017). ISBN 9783960980698
• The Well Fair, Elmgreen & Dragset (London: Koenig Books / Beijing: Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 2016). ISBN 9783863358952
• Aéroport Mille Plateaux, Elmgreen & Dragset (Seoul: PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, 2015). ISBN 9788985468527
• Biography, Elmgreen & Dragset (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2014). ISBN 9783775738651
• Biography (reader), Elmgreen & Dragset, Gunnar B. Kvaran and Kjersti Solbakken, eds. (Berlin: Archive Books, 2014). ISBN 9783943620184
• A Space Called Public, Elmgreen & Dragset, eds. (Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2013). ISBN 9783863354398
• Elmgreen & Dragset: Trilogy, Peter Weibel and Andreas F. Beitin, eds., exh. cat., ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (London: Thames & Hudson, 2011). ISBN 9783865609083
• Elmgreen & Dragset: Performances: 1995-2011, Anita Iannacchione, ed. (Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2011). ISBN 9783863350994
• Elmgreen & Dragset: This is the First Day of My Life, Anna Stüler, ed. (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2008). ISBN 9783775720502
• Home is the Place You Left, Elmgreen & Dragset, Trondheim Kunstmuseum (Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2008). ISBN 9783865604736
• Prada Marfa, Elmgreen & Dragset (Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2007). No longer in print. ISBN 9783865601957
• The Welfare Show, Elmgreen & Dragset (Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2006). No longer in print. ISBN 9783883759678
• Taking Place, Beatrix Ruf, ed., exh. cat. Kunsthalle Zürich (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2002). No longer in print. ISBN 9783775711562
• Zwischen anderen Ereignissen, exh. cat. (Leipzig: Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, 2000). No longer in print.
• Powerless Structures exh. cat. (1998). No longer in print.

Gallery

• 
  Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism by Elmgreen and Dragset
• 
  The unveiling of the memorial, 2008, 27 May
• 
  The signboard
• 
  The video in the memorial

References

1. Holzwarth, Hans W. (2009). 100 Contemporary Artists A-Z (Taschen's 25th anniversary special ed.). Köln: Taschen. p. 164. ISBN 978-3-8365-1490-3.
2. "Last Chance: Elmgreen and Dragset at Victoria Miro, London". The Saatchi Gallery. 7 November 2008. Archived from the original on 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
3. Daniel Kunitz (November 22, 2012), [1] Art+Auction.
4. Wenin, Samila, "Art through irony", in The Bangkok Post, 15 September 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
5. Reyburn, Scott (9 October 2015). "Once Subversive, Frieze Opens in a Changing London". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
6. Elmgreen/Dragset, 20 October 2001 – 24 November 2001 Archived 31 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York.
7. Untitled: Elmgreen & Dragset, 12 May – 4 July 2004 Archived 17 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine Tate, London.
8. Sayej, Nadja (1 July 2006). "Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset: The Welfare Show". Parachute: Contemporary Art Magazine. Archived from the original on 2013-05-21. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
9. Field, Frank (1 February 2006). "Another view: Frank Field MP on The Welfare Show". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
10. Campbell-Johnston, Rachel (24 January 2006). "We were only being boring". The Times. London: News International Limited. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
11. "Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth art choices revealed". BBC News. 14 January 2011.
12. Fourth Plinth: the work of Elmgreen & Dragset The Telegraph.
13. [2] Arken Museum of Modern Art.
14. "City of Munich: A Space Called Public". e-flux. 6 June 2013.
15. "Press Release: Tomorrow—Elmgreen & Dragset at the V&A" (PDF).
16. Shaw, Catherine (18 August 2015). "Transitional space: Elmgreen & Dragset create airport for Seoul's Plateau". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
17. Harris, Gareth (20 January 2016). "Elmgreen & Dragset create a fictional art fair in Beijing". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
18. Elmgreen & Dragset: Van Gogh's Ear, April 13 – June 3, 2016 Archived August 10, 2020, at the Wayback Machine Rockefeller Center, New York.
19. [3] This Is How We Bite Our Tongue The Whitechapel Gallery.
20. Connolly, Kate (28 May 2008). "Germany remembers gay victims of the Nazis". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
21. "Germany unveils memorial to gay victims of Holocaust". The New York Times. 27 May 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
22. [4] Ekebergparken.
23. [ [5] Han at Helsingør, Denmark.
24. Elmgreen & Dragset: Silent wishes and broken dreams..., June 01 – July 31, 2011 Archived April 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Goetz Collection, Munich.
25. Archer, Michael (22 August 2008). "The Old Vic – letting the art do the talking". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media Limited.
26. Alex Greenberger (9 December 2019), After Sharing Turner Prize Win, Lawrence Abu Hamdan Takes Another Top Art Award ARTnews.
27. "Arken Art Prize: 2006". Arken Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
28. "Kritikersalong ved utdelingen av Kunstkritikerprisen 2009 til Elmgreen og Dragset". Kritikerlaget / Norwegian Critics’ Association. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
29. "Tildelinger af medaljer". Akademiraadet. Archived from the original on 2 February 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
30. "Carl Nielsens and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Grant 2012". Den Frie. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
31. "Honorary Doctors". www.ntnu.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
32. Furberg, Kristoffer. "Kunstnerduo utnevnt til æresdoktorer" (in Norwegian). Universitetsavisa. Archived from the original on 2 September 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
33. Alex Greenberger (June 29, 2020), Pace Gallery Takes on Elmgreen & Dragset, Beloved Duo Behind Prankish Sculptures ARTnews.
34. Kabir Jhala (23 November 2022), More artists leave König gallery amid sexual misconduct allegations against its founder Johann König The Art Newspaper.
35. "Alberta Ferretti A Side Effects Un Abito Per Una Statua Di Elmgreen & Dragset..." Sfilate (in Italian). 22 January 2008. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
36. "Malmö Konsthall, Elmgreen & Dragset, This is the First Day of My Life". Malmö Konsthall Website. 3 March 2007. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
37. Taka Ishii Gallery (Apr 22 – May 20, 2006). "Elmgreen & Dragset: The Incidental Self". Taka Ishii Gallery. Archived from the original on 2010-01-06. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
38. Graczyk, Michael (20 February 2006). "Desert, cows and designer shoes; The handbags and pumps are part of the landscape of 'Prada Marfa,' an art piece that's turning heads in a West Texas town". Los Angeles Times. p. E18. Retrieved 2009-02-08.^[dead link‍]
39. Mendelsohn, Adam E. (10 August 2005). "Stealing the Show". Artforum. Artforum International Magazine. Archived from the original on 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
40. Allen, Jennifer, "Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, Klosterfelde (Linienstrasse)" in Artforum, October 2005, pp. 286-287.
41. Brown, Jonathan (12 May 2004). "Artists hope to ruffle feathers with model of dying sparrow". The Independent. Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
42. Leitch, Luke (11 May 2004). "Watch the birdie; Twitching sparrow is a state of the art model at Tate Modern". The Evening Standard. Associated Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
43. McBreen, Ellen, "Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset at Emmanuel Perrotin" in Art in America, 2003, pp. 155-156. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
44. Bang Larsen, Lars (6 June 2000). "Whiteout". frieze magazine. Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
45. [6] TBA21 Thyssen- Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
46. [7] Kunsthalle Praha, Prague, Czech Republic. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
47. [8] Benesse Art Site Naoshima. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
48. [9] Aïshti Foundation. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
49. [10] Kistefos Museum. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
50. Nick Compton (September 25, 2012) Elmgreen & Dragset at the Louis Vuitton New Bond Street Maison, London Wallpaper.
51. [11] Public Art Fund, Elmgreen & Dragset: Van Gogh's Ear, 2016.
52. Ted Loos (October 17, 2018) [12] The New York Times.

Further reading

• Searle, Adrian (31 October 2008). "Elmgreen and Dragset: Private view with Adrian Searle". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2009-02-08. (Podcast)
• Video interview with Elmgreen and Dragset, on the occasion of their 2011 exhibition 'The One & The Many' in Rotterdam (NL)

External links

• Official website