Elmgreen and Dragset install steel Oval Office replica at Pace Gallery

11h

Summary

Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset installed Transition, a thirty-six-ton Corten-steel replica of the Oval Office, at Pace Gallery in Chelsea.
The sculpture is the artists' first work explicitly about U.S. politics and contains no furniture or décor.
President Trump has announced plans to make the Oval Office a national monument.
The artists, who met at a Copenhagen club in 1994, say they want to question rather than preach about the room as a symbol of power.
The sculpture travelled from Germany in an open-air container to expose it to the elements and pays tribute to Richard Serra.

Ingar Dragset said the sculpture deliberately goes in the opposite direction from the far right, which is afraid of the minimal.
Michael Elmgreen said one almost feels nauseous when seeing a picture of the Oval Office.
It was written that the minimal, rough-hewn replica could not have looked less like something Trump would choose.
It was written that Trump has seemed more intent than ever on cementing his legacy since the Democrats' strong midterm results.
Dragset said the artists, as non-Americans, do not want to preach but to question.
Elmgreen said there is a magic to how architecture becomes a symbol of power that impacts our lives.

President Trump’s Nightmare Oval Officenewyorker.com· 11h
Jane Bua's Talk of the Town piece follows artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset as their thirty-six-ton Corten-steel replica of the Oval Office, Transition, is installed at Pace Gallery in Chelsea — their first work explicitly about U.S. politics, meant to question rather than preach about how architecture becomes a symbol of power. The piece notes Trump's announced plan to make the Oval Office a national monument, the artists' meeting at a Copenhagen club in 1994, and balcony panels of world leaders cut to reveal polished steel.