michael elmgreen & ingar dragset: 'the collectors' at the danish pavilion

‘a. family’s home’ – the danish pavilion set-up to look like a house for sale image © designboom

for the first time in the history of the venice art biennale, two national pavilions, the danish and the nordic, come together to present one single exhibition entitled, ‘the collectors’. curated and staged by artist duo elmgreen & dragset, the work of twenty-four international artists and artist groups are included to transform the two spaces into domestic environments where the audience is invited as guests. dining rooms, bedrooms, furniture, fireplaces, a stained glass skylight and the artworks nestled within the households, reveal the uncanny stories of fictional inhabitants, with their obsessive characters and diverse lifestyles.

the public is invited to take a guided tour with a real estate agent through the ‘for sale’ danish pavilion and is told the story of the ingmar bergman-style (swedish director) family dramas that once haunted the house. the tour then continues over to the adjacent nordic pavilion.

at the heart of ‘the collectors’, there is an exploration of collecting, a practice which combines intimacy, publicness, obsession and self-expression as seen by the objects which have been selected to decorate the two homes.

‘table for bergman’ by elmgreen and dragset, 2009 wood, paint, perspex, chairs, glassware, cutlery, hand-painted porcelain image © designboom l: ‘torso of a (forever) young man’ by elmgreen and dragset, 2008 r: ‘untitled’ by maurizio cattelan, 2009 image © designboom

‘rosa’, 2006 by elmgreen and dragset gilded brass, steel, fiber glass with epoxy, garments, shoes image © designboom

porcelain collection scattered on the floor of the kitchen image © designboom

the porcelain collection takes over the counter, sink and shelves of the kitchen image © designboom

the living room of the home where the work of martin jacobson, norway says and elmgreen & dragset is displayed.

interior design / staircase by elmgreen and dragset, 2009 image © designboom

detail of the staircase image © designboom

‘I will never see you again’ image © designboom

outside the danish pavilion, people line-up for tours during the ‘open house’ image © designboom