virtualwallworld: Elmgreen & Dragseth: Biography

29 July 2014

Elmgreen & Dragseth: Biography

Biography
Elmgreen & Dragseth
21.3.-24.8.14
Astrup Fearnley museet, Oslo
Installations, sculptures, surprises

* SPOILER ALERT!*
* If you plan to visit the exhibition, which you really should, do not look at my photos, but rather make your own discoveries *

This is an exhibition I have been looking forward for quite some time, and was the main reason for a stopover in Oslo. After seeing their massive installation at the Nordic pavillions at the Venice Biennale in 2009 and the shocking minibankinstallation at an exhibition in Copenhagen, I knew this was an art duo to my taste.

The artists have explored all of the exhibition halls, and laid out surprises everywhere, even in the cloakroom and by the elevator. Most of the works are titled, but some are unnamed, left there for you to wonder if they really are art or not.

Titles are difficult to find here. In the exhibition leaflet there is an overview of all the titles, but it is difficult to understand which is which. This is better explained in the catalogue. Or here in this blogpost.

Here is the remains of a night club where the opening party was held, a homo-erotic massage studio in the basement, loads of black&white photos from the artists lives, an office that never opens, a dead art collector, a desillusioned boy, a white rat, pieces of walls from famous art galleries, a ticket booth that is always closed, museums as powerless structures, a scarecrow facing the posh Tjuvholmen area, and a golden male mermaid. During weekends there are also live additions to the artworks. A middle-aged woman is walking around the pool in her bathing suit, and a painter is constantly painting one of the walls.

This might just be one of the most impressive exhibitions this year, and in my opinion it is worth the whole trip to Oslo. For you who cannot see it, here are photos of every single artwork (as far as I know.)