Elmgreen, Michael and Ingar Dragset


Chilling at the pool in front of the Nordic Pavilion after finally finishing our installation. It took more than a month to build The Collectors, a show spanning two neighboring venues—the Nordic and the Danish Pavilions. We have transformed the exhibition spaces into the private homes of some fictional art collectors. Mr. B is floating facedown in the pool. Poor guy! The houses are filled with weird traces of our made-up inhabitants—their dramas and passions. We like staging nonexistant realities: forever-closed Prada stores in the middle of the Texan desert, fake subway stations in the Meatpacking District of New York, closed down nightclubs in East London. We like sad stories told with humor. Many of our works are like 3-D novels or movies in which the main characters are never revealed. Well, time for a last cigarette in the sun before the crowds start pouring in, eager to go on art safari at the Venice Biennale. It's all about watching and being watched, isn't it? Behind us some fashion shoot is already taking place. Strike a pose!