Elmgreen & Dragset's most famous creation has taken on a life of its own. Prada Marfa is a "living sculpture" painstakingly recreating a Prada boutique in the Texan desert town of Marfa. Beyonce visited in 2012, and has become a pilgrimage site for fashion fans, who line up to take Instagram selfies in front of the store.
Prada Marfa, 2005 —
Elmgreen & Dragset's most famous creation has taken on a life of its own. Prada Marfa is a "living sculpture" painstakingly recreating a Prada boutique in the Texan desert town of Marfa. Beyonce visited in 2012, and has become a pilgrimage site for fashion fans, who line up to take Instagram selfies in front of the store.
James Evans/COurtesy The artists
The pair love to use architecture to explore a dark sense of humor. For the Danish & Nordic Pavilions at the 2009 Venice Biennale, they transformed the pavilions into domestic settings, and invited audiences to be guests and voyeuristically observe the lives lived inside. In one, a flamboyant bachelor's pad, they encounter the domestic remnants of the mysterious art collector Mister B.
Death of a Collector, 2009 —
The pair love to use architecture to explore a dark sense of humor. For the Danish & Nordic Pavilions at the 2009 Venice Biennale, they transformed the pavilions into domestic settings, and invited audiences to be guests and voyeuristically observe the lives lived inside. In one, a flamboyant bachelor's pad, they encounter the domestic remnants of the mysterious art collector Mister B.
Anders Sune Berg
It's an exercise in discomfort. As his body floats outside, audiences see the lifestyle that preceded his demise in the house: meeting by a group of young male hustlers sipping vodka tonics and witnessing the detritus of his party lifestyle. "The extreme" says Ingar Dragset is coming elbow-to-elbow with an unfazed young man, who sits naked listening to music in the collector's chair.
The Collectors, 2009 —
It's an exercise in discomfort. As his body floats outside, audiences see the lifestyle that preceded his demise in the house: meeting by a group of young male hustlers sipping vodka tonics and witnessing the detritus of his party lifestyle. "The extreme" says Ingar Dragset is coming elbow-to-elbow with an unfazed young man, who sits naked listening to music in the collector's chair.
Anders Sune Berg
The pair have a history of creating fictional homes and inhabitants, often to probe aspects of their joint identity. They have twice built the home of Norman Swann, a pitiable, failing architect, and invited audiences to poke around it while observing him pass through late middle age and approach death.
The Collectors, 2009 —
The pair have a history of creating fictional homes and inhabitants, often to probe aspects of their joint identity. They have twice built the home of Norman Swann, a pitiable, failing architect, and invited audiences to poke around it while observing him pass through late middle age and approach death.
Anders Sune Berg
This year, for Aeroport Mille Plateaux in Seoul, Korea, the two recreated an airport terminal complete with an abandoned baby -- titled "Modern Moses" -- and an unreachable departure gate.
Aeroport Mille Plateaux, 2015 —
This year, for Aeroport Mille Plateaux in Seoul, Korea, the two recreated an airport terminal complete with an abandoned baby -- titled "Modern Moses" -- and an unreachable departure gate.
Sang Tae Kim / PLATEAU
They were inspired by the exhibition space's airport-like architecture and hoped to explore the feeling of loneliness and abandonment that modern <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wallpaper.com%2Fart%2Ftransitional-space-elmgreen-dragset-create-airport-for-seouls-plateau" target="_blank" target="_blank">"transitional spaces"</a> -- airports, public buildings, museums -- foster.
Aeroport Mille Plateaux, 2015 —
They were inspired by the exhibition space's airport-like architecture and hoped to explore the feeling of loneliness and abandonment that modern "transitional spaces" -- airports, public buildings, museums -- foster.
Sang Tae Kim / PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
The two are preparing for a major exhibition at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing that will open on 23 January, where they will create a replica art fair (not pictured) entirely consisting of their own works.
The future? —
The two are preparing for a major exhibition at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing that will open on 23 January, where they will create a replica art fair (not pictured) entirely consisting of their own works.
Sang Tae Kim / PLATEAU
Elmgreen explains: "Arts fairs are O.K., but it's not the most thrilling setting to show your works. Here, we can totally choreograph it ourselves and the whole art fair will only be our works, which is kind of a dream situation -- we don't have any competition!"
The future? —
Elmgreen explains: "Arts fairs are O.K., but it's not the most thrilling setting to show your works. Here, we can totally choreograph it ourselves and the whole art fair will only be our works, which is kind of a dream situation -- we don't have any competition!"
Sang Tae Kim / PLATEAU