Michael Elmgreen was born in 1961 in Copenhagen, Denmark; Ingar Dragset was born in 1969 in Trondheim, Norway; they have been working as an artist duo since 1995. They live and work in Berlin. With the intention of revealing and redefining the art world, its cultural institutions and their fruition from the public, Elmgreen & Dragset draw inspiration from the everyday world, criticizing through a strong and unsettling sense of humor the contemporary social and political structure. They are well known for their numerous public architectural and performative installations, including Prada Marfa, a Prada shop located in the middle of the desert of Texas realized in 2005, and Short Cut, where due cars were rising out of Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in 2003, produced together with Fondazione Nicola Trussardi. Elmgreen & Dragset constantly challenge their public and its imaginary through the creation of images that are as shocking as spectacular.

Elmgreen & Dragset have had solo exhibitions in prominent institutions worldwide, including: Elmgreen & Dragset, Point of View Part 1, Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker (2019); Elmgreen & Dragset: Sculptures, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2019); It’s Not What You Think, Blueproject Foundation, Barcelona (2019); This Is How We Bite Our Tongue, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018); Die Zugezogenen, Museum Haus Lange, Kunstmuseen Krefeld (2017); Changing Subjects, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2016); Van Gogh’s Ear, Rockefeller Center, Public Art Fund, New York (2016); Powerless Structures, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv (2016); The Well Fair, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2016); Aéroport Mille Plateaux, PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2015); Biography, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (2014); Biography, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2014); Tomorrow, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2013); The One and The Many, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2011).

Their group exhibitions include: Tainted Love, Villa Arson, Nice (2019); There I Belong - Hammershøi, curated by Elmgreen & Dragset, Statens Museum fur Kunst, Copenhagen (2019); For Today, I Am a Boy: Contemporary Queer Abstraction, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines (2019); Art’s Biggest Stage, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown (2019); Art & Porn, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus (2019); Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body, The Met Breuer, New York (2018); WAITING. Between Power and Possibility, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (2017); Slip of the Tongue, Punta Della Dogana, Venice (2015); Panorama, High Line Art, New York (2015); GOLD, Bass Museum of Art, Miami (2014); Do it Moscow, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2014). They have also taken part in the Bangkok (2018), Istanbul (2013, 2011, 2001), Liverpool (2012), Performa 11 (New York, 2011), Singapore (2011), Moscow (2011, 2007), Venice (2009, 2003), Gwangju (2006, 2002), São Paulo (2002), and Berlin (1998) biennials as well as the Yokohama Triennale in 2008 in Japan.

Elmgreen & Dragset were appointed curators of the 15th Istanbul Biennial (2017). They were awarded a Special Mention at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) for The Collectors at the Danish and Nordic Pavilions and won the prestigious Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin (2002).