Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset, But I’m on the Guest List Too!, 2012. Photograph by Jerry Hardman-Jones 

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Elmgreen & Dragset’s work is a challenge to socio-political conventions, deconstructing and reassembling power structures with a playful twist. Previous projects have included The Mirror (2008) which saw London’s Victoria Miro Gallery transformed into a gay club complete with the detritus of last night’s party, and Prada Marfa (2005): a project described by the artists as “pop-architectural land-art”, a replica Prada boutique situated in the American Desert.

Popular culture and social behaviour are questioned by Elmgreen & Dragset’s new work for Liverpool Biennial 2012. But I’m on the Guest List Too! examines the hierarchy of values and meritocracy established by “WAG” and celebrity-culture. The artists’ oversized V.I.P. door - slightly ajar - is guarded by a bouncer. It invites the viewer in but cannot be opened fully, blurring the line between welcome and exclusion. But I’m on the Guest List Too! can be treated as a sculpture as well as a frustrating barrier to potential social advancement.

Elmgreen & Dragset are artists Michael Elmgreen (b. 1961, Copenhagen) and Ingar Dragset (b. 1968, Trondheim). They have been working together in London, U.K. and Berlin, Germany since 1995. Presentations of their work include The Fourth Plinth, Powerless Structures, Fig 101 (Trafalgar Square, London, U.K., 2012-13), Celebrity: The One and the Many (ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark, 2011) and Happy Days in the Art World (Performa 11, New York, U.S.A, 2011).

Elmgreen & Dragset at Liverpool Biennial 2012

Public intervention, mixed media
Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial 2012
Exhibited at Liverpool ONE