ELMGREEN & DRAGSET: LANDSCAPE

Pace presents Landscapes by the artists Elmgreen & Dragset. Set directly on its shore, Lake Geneva acts as a site-specific parallel to the works in the exhibition, inviting the viewer’s reflection.

May 23 - August 10, 2024

Printed on the gallery’s rear wall, the sentence hovers in the sky above a desert, setting the scene for the artists’ exploration into landscapes that are more emotional than physical. The vast horizon looks like a still from a road trip movie.

Forming a rhythmic structural base to the exhibition, five street signs stand evenly spaced in front of the billboard-like print, almost resembling a cluster of trees. While their shapes are familiar and universal—circles, squares, and triangles—they have no instructions, no warnings, or directions.

Opposite the signs, two hands made of white lacquered bronze protrude from the wall, holding a small blackbird. Upon closer inspection, viewers will notice the bird’s subtle, nearly imperceptible, breathing. It is a scene of fragility—perhaps a child trying to save a small dying creature.

Towards the entrance of the gallery, visitors will encounter two further artworks. A realistic figure of a boy concentrates on piecing a puzzle together. It seems as if the finished puzzle will also reveal a blue sky with clouds. Not far from the boy, a small bird’s nest sits inside a museum vitrine. Within the nest lies a tiny book entitled “How to Become a Bird.”

The slightly surreal imagery in many of these artworks is a familiar feature of Elmgreen & Dragset’s practice. Since their first sculpture, a diving board piercing through the panoramic window of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Powerless Structures, Fig. 11, 1997), they have created numerous works that offer viewers an opportunity to experience everyday objects in new and often uncanny ways.

While birds are crossing the line
between mountain and sky
You stand on the soil on
soil so firmly pressed
because home is
what you were told
should be solid
You don’t turn around
Because home is
what you were told
while birds are crossing
Home is the place you left