The V&A has commissioned leading contemporary artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset to create a major site-specific installation in the former Textile Galleries. Throughout their career the artists have redefined the way in which art is presented and experienced, raising issues around social models and spaces, and prompting a re-thinking of the status quo. This ambitious exhibition will include the production of a new filmed drama staged within the highly-choreographed environment of a grand domestic setting belonging to a fictional architect. Objects from the V&A’s collection will be presented alongside artworks, furniture and every day items to create an unexpected encounter for the museum visitor.
Based in London and Berlin, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset have worked as an artist duo since the mid-1990s. Their winning sculpture for the Fourth Plinth commission, Powerless Structures, Fig. 101, is currently on view in London’s Trafalgar Square. Important solo exhibitions have been presented at the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum Submarine Wharf, Rotterdam (2011); ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany (2010-2011), MUSAC, León, Spain (2009), Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2007), Serpentine Gallery, London (2006), MCA Chicago (2005), Tate Modern, London (2004), and Kunsthalle Zurich (2001). In 2009, Elmgreen & Dragset were awarded Special Mention at the Venice Biennale for The Collectors, their highly elaborate exhibition for the Danish and Nordic Pavilions.
Photo © ArtLyst 2012
V&A 1 October 2013 – 2 January 2014