Press Release

Untitled: Elmgreen & Dragset

Tate Modern  Turbine Hall Bridge
12 May – 4 July 2004

Untitled is a new series of contemporary displays at Tate Modern, dedicated to presenting recent or new work by international artists not widely exhibited in the UK. A new display space on Level 2 near the North Entrance has been created specifically for the Untitled series. The series launches on 12 May, the fourth anniversary of the opening of Tate Modern, with the work of Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset.

Each year the Untitled series will include six eight-week displays focusing on a particular theme or tendency in contemporary art practice. The first year’s programme The Public World of the Private Space will consider the human condition in public and private environments, and in particular, the representation of space in these spheres. At the end of each year a publication will bring together the six displays in the programme.

The new display space for the series has been created near the north entrance of Tate Modern by architects Herzog and De Meuron. The space, which includes a window on the north façade, can be seen by people passing by the building at all times of the day and will provide a focus for contemporary art even when the gallery is closed.

Michael Elmgreen, born in Copenhagen, Denmark and Ingar Dragset, born in Trodheim, Norway have collaborated since 1995. They live and work in Berlin. Their work explores how spatial conditions, everyday design, architecture and urban planning shape cultural identities and influence our social behavioural patterns. Their early work was largely performance based but recently they have created installations that are less dependent on their presence such as the celebrated series of works entitled Powerless Structures, in which they transformed the conventions of the ‘white cube’ gallery space, creating galleries suspended from the ceiling, sunken into the ground or turned upside down as well as exhibition spaces under construction. Recent exhibitions include Short Cut, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan (2003), Spaced Out, Portikus, Frankfurt (2003) and Utopia at the 50th Venice Biennale (2003).

This year’s Untitled programme The Public World of the Private Sphere is led by Susan May, Curator, Tate Modern.

Open every day from 10.00 – 18.00 and late night until 22.00 on Friday and Saturday

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