Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset (b. 1961 in Copenhagen, Denmark and 1969 in Trondheim, Norway) are a Berlin-based artist duo who have collaborated since 1995. Their practice explores questions of identity and belonging, focusing on the discourse that emerges when objects are reconfigured and recontextualized and traditional modes of art presentation are altered.

They have held solo exhibitions at major art institutions including Musée d’Orsay (2024), Amorepacific Museum of Art (2024), Centre Pompidou-Metz (2023), Fondazione Prada (2022), The Nasher Sculpture Center (2019), The Whitechapel Gallery (2018), and the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art (2016). In 2009, they received a special mention for their exhibition The Collectors in the Nordic and Danish Pavilions at the 53rd Venice Biennale.

Elmgreen & Dragset are well-known for their large-scale public works, including Van Gogh’s Ear (2016), a full-sized vertical swimming pool first presented by Public Art Fund at the Rockefeller Center, and Prada Marfa (2005), a replica of a Prada boutique sited along U.S. Route 90 the middle of the Texan desert. The Hive (2020), a to-scale inverted cityscape, is permanently on view at Moynihan Train Hall in New York City. The artists won the German government's competition for a “Memorial to the Homosexuals Persecuted under the National Socialist Regime,” which has been in Berlin’s Tiergarten park since 2008. In 2025, K-BAR (2024), a bar dedicated to the late artist Martin Kippenberger, was installed in the middle of Khao Yai Art Forest in Thailand.

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. The artists were awarded the 14th Robert Jacobsen Prize of the Würth Foundation in 2021.

Elmgreen et Dragset 06 mai 2024 03

Biography

Solo exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2025
F, October 2025, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
US, The Alice in wonderland syndrome, PACE Gallery, Los Angeles
2024
CH, Landscapes, Pace Gallery, Geneva
F, L’Addition, Musée d’Orsay, Paris
ROK, Spaces, Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul
2023
CZ, READ, Kunsthalle Praha, Praha
F, Bonne Chance, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz
2022
F, Stand by me, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
PRC, After Dark, By Art Matters 天目里美术馆, Hangzhou
PRC, Elmgreen & Dragset, JNBY Museum, Hanghzhou
I, Useless Bodies?, Fondazione Prada, Milano
2021
DK, Livredderen, Tarnby, Copenhagen
DK, Short Story, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen
PRC, Van Gogh’s Ear (upcoming), K11 Musea, Wuhan
F, Elmgreen & Dragset: New Tenants, Perrotin, Paris
USA, Elmgreen & Dragset: The Nervous System, Pace Gallery, New York
D, Elmgreen & Dragset, Würth Museum 2, Künzelsau
S, Life Rings, Princess Estelle Foundation, Royal Djurgården, Stockholm
2020
FIN, Elmgreen & Dragset, EMMA Museum, Tapiola Espoo
USA, The Hive, Moynihan Train Hall, New York
D, Short Story, König Galerie, Berlin
ROK, Pool, No. 8, Gangnam, Seoul
HK, Van Gogh’s Ear, K11 Musea, Hong Kong
USA, Elmgreen & Dragset, Pace, East Hamptons
2019
HK, Overheated, Massimo de Carlo Gallery, Hong Kong
ROK, Adaptations, Kukje Gallery, Seoul
CZ, A Cool Breeze, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague
USA, Elmgreen & Dragset: Sculptures, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
E, It's Not What You Think, Blueproject Foundation, Barcelona
N, Point of View, Parts 1 & 2, Kistefos Museum, Oppland
USA, Bent Pool, Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami
2018
USA, Elmgreen & Dragset: It’s Never Too Late to Say Sorry, Aspen Museum of Art, Aspen
Group exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2025
JP, MINEBANE! Contemporary Art - The Taguchi Art Collection, Akita Museum of Art and Akita Senshu Museum of Art, Akita
FR, Énormément bizarre. Jean Chatelus collection, Centre Pompidou, Paris
BE, Collected with Vision, KMSKA – Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerpen
I, Panorama Curated by Chiara Parisi, Organized by ITALICS, Pozzuoli
2024
AUS, Namedropping, Museum of Old and New Art, Berriedale
ROK, A Drawing A Day, MASSIMODECARLO Seoul Studio, Seoul
D, Illusion: Traum, Identität, Wirklichkeit, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg
USA, The Swimmer, FLAG Art Foundation, New York
T, Bangkok Art Biennial, Bangkok
D, Wenns gut werden muss, Kunstverein Wiesen, Frankfurt am Main
D, Museum in Motion - A Collection for the 21st Century, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
D, Face to Face and Side by Side, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld
CH, Fresh Window: The Art of Display & Display of Art, Museum Tinguely, Basel
2023
I, Room Service, MASSIMODECARLO, Milano
FIN, Before Tomorrow - Astrup Fearnley Museet 30 Years, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo
J, Signposts of the World - Dangerous Modern Art. Taguchi Art Collection, Nariwa Museum, Takahashi
I, Paraventi, Fondazione Prada, Milano
2022
A, Art in the Elevator, Salzburg Museum der Moderne, Salzburg
D, Blue Jeans - Myth and Marketing, Museumsquarier Osnabrück, Osnabrück
D, CASH on the Wall, Stiftung Kunstforum Berliner Volksbank, Berlin
N, Every Moment Counts, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden
DN, Heroic Bodies, Rudolph Tegners Museum, Dronningmølle
PL, Politics in Art, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow
F, Impossibles architectures, Musees des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, Nancy
I, Winter Wunderkammer, MASSIMODECARLO, VSpace
I, Winter Wunderkammer, MASSIMODECARLO, VSpace
2021
ROK, Monument for the Cemetery, Art Sonje Center, Seoul
DK, Work It Out, Kunsten, Aalborg
DK, Grave Monuments, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus
DK, Psychopathia Sexualis, Overgaden, Copenhagen
I, Statements, Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo
D, Wild/Schön, Kunsthalle Emden, Emden

Public collections

Country
Location
Austria
MUMOK - Museum Moderner Kunst, Wien
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Wien
Belgium
Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mechelen
Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels
Czech Republic
Kunsthalle Praha, Praha
Denmark
Arken Museum, Ishøj
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus
Dokk1, Aarhus
Københavns Billedkunstudvalg, Copenhagen
KØS - Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Nørregade a Køge
KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg
Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk
Statens Museum for Kunst , Copenhagen
Finland
Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo
France
Dragonfly Collection, Paris
FNAC - Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris
Fondation Emerige, Paris
Germany
European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main
Galerie Orangerie-Reinz, Köln
Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
KAT_Kunst am Turm, Bad Honnef
Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen
Kunstmuseum Krefeld, Krefeld
Kunstverein Springhof, Springhof
me Collectors Room, Berlin
Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen
Pinakothek der Moderne, München
Sammlung Boros, Berlin
Sammlung Goetz, München
Sammlung Wemhöner, Berlin
Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden, Dresden

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