Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset

MICHAEL ELMGREEN & INGAR DRAGSET

WHEN NORMAL IS QUEER

The artist couple Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset construct paradoxical sculptures and installations whose uselessness questions our usual perceptions of normality.

Coupled, Fig 2 (Front to Front), 2001

Coupled, Fig 2 (Front to Front), 2001

Description
Two hand trucks are welded together front to front.

About the work
The sculpture appears to comprise two utterly ordinary implements but closer scrutiny reveals the paradoxical condition of the hand trucks: they are useless because they have been combined into one.
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Elmgreen & Dragset's art in general
Elmgreen & Dragset are interested in the aspects of relationship and function that convey cultural, social, political and historical relations in the art world and society at large. In the way they combine art, architecture and design, they succeed in turning 'normality' upside down and challenge the expected.
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Literature
"Reality Check", Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2008
"This is the first day of my life" (Anna Stüler, ed), Berlin, Hatje cantz Verlag, 2008
"Taking Place. Die Arbeiten von Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset", Kunsthalle Zürich/Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2001
"Powerless Structures. Works by Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset", Reykjavik, 1998