Elmgreen & Dragset - Biography

The “family album” of this successful Danish-Norwegian duo, characteristically self-ironic and irreverent

The artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset have been collect­ing photos for their ever-expanding image archive, The Incidental Self, throughout their twenty-year col­laboration. These intimate photos have previously been shown at galleries, museums, and biennials in Europe and Asia, but are now for the first time com­piled in an image-only publication, titled Biography. The book includes hundreds of private snapshots that span many events and locations, offering a glimpse of the artists’ studio, working processes, ex­hibitions, travels, parties, friendships, relationships, and inspirations. The contents, ranging from personal photos to those taken by friends, studio assistants, professional photographers, family, and colleagues, give the impression of an oversized and rather absurd family photo album, focussing on a masculine reality. As a whole, the selection of images creates a fluid perception of what today can be called a “self.”