The One & The Many

The art duo Michael Elmgreen (Denmark, 1961) and Ingar Dragset (Norway, 1969) have created a vast exhibition featuring a specially designed block of flats, an abandoned funfair ride and numerous other elements. The exhibition ‘The One & The Many’ transforms the 5000m2 former Submarine Wharf into a deprived neighbourhood with a sinister atmosphere. These are the fringes of society: a tough underworld with dubious characters and shocking activities.

Thanks to the exhibition ‘The One & The Many’ this summer all eyes are once again focused on the RDM complex in Rotterdam’s harbour. Until 2014 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Port of Rotterdam are collaborating on a series of large-scale art projects in the Submarine Wharf. The series kicked off last year with Atelier van Lieshout’s exhibition ‘Infernopolis’, which De Volkskrant called ‘this summer’s absolute art hit’.

The work ‘It’s Never Too Late to Say Sorry’ by Elmgreen & Dragset is also on display in Rotterdam on the Coolsingel. The work consists of a glistening display case on a dark granite plinth, housing a polished stainless-steel megaphone. Each day, just before midday, a person will appear, open the door in the case and remove the megaphone. At exactly twelve o’clock the person will exclaim through the megaphone the short and simple phrase: ‘It's never too late to say sorry’. This ‘performance/sculpture’ will be performed daily in Rotterdam for at least a year. The work was commissioned by Sculpture International Rotterdam.

Elmgreen & Dragset have worked together since 1995. They live in London and Berlin. Their art works express their critical relationship to Western consumer society. In 2006 the duo produced the widely praised exhibition ‘The Welfare Show’ at the Serpentine Gallery in London. In 2009 they presented ‘The Collectors’ at the 53rd Venice Biennale and in op 2010 ‘Celebrity – The One and the Many’ at the ZKM in Karlsruhe. In 2003 they won the prestigious ‘Preis der Nationalgalerie fur Junge Kunst’ and in 2009 they received the ‘Special Mention’ at the Venice Biennale. Elmgreen & Dragset have been selected to create a sculpture for the ‘Fourth Plinth’ in Trafalgar Square in London in 2012.

This exhibition in the Submarine Wharf has been organised by the Port of Rotterdam and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, with a special contribution from the BankGiro Loterij and the Municipality of Rotterdam.

Complete transformation for Rotterdam’s Submarine Wharf
Elmgreen & Dragset
The One & The Many
28 May - 25 September 2011