Throughout their career, Elmgreen & Dragset have taken on large-scale sculptural works and installations under the main title Powerless Structures, including the eight doors, which have now been added to SMK’s permanent collection.
Elmgreen & Dragset have worked together since 1995 and achieved international success; in 2009 they represented Denmark and Norway at the Art Biennale in Venice, in 2011 they won the competition for a temporary monument for Trafalgar Square in London, and in 2013 they staged a large exhibition at Victoria and Albert Museum in London. For a three-month period beginning in September 2014, they presented a big solo exhibition at SMK, which included the eight doors.
Of Elmgreen & Dragset’s production, SMK already owns the installation Please keep quiet! from 2003 and the photo series End of Natural Behaviorfrom 1996.
‘We consider Powerless Structures (8 doors) a main piece, not only in Elmgreen & Dragset’s production but in Danish and international contemporary art overall. This makes the installation an important addition to our collection, where it will both ensure a better representation of these two important artists and serve to accentuate Danish art history with a contemporary perspective on themes that have captured the imagination of previous Danish artists,’ says Mikkel Bogh, director of SMK.
In this piece, Elmgreen & Dragset explore what happens when familiar structures – for example the basic functionality of an object or a room – are restated, turned upside down or abandoned entirely. The doors address the confusion that arises when these apparently commonplace doors prove, upon closer inspection, to be dysfunctional.
‘On a general level, the installation challenges our habitual thinking, inviting us to reflect on familiar things and situations that we take for granted but don’t normally pay much attention to,’ says Mikkel Bogh.
