ART CITIES:N.York-Elmgreen & Dragset

“Past Tomorrow”, the solo exhibition by Elmgreen & Dragset, is continuing the artist duo’s interest in creating new narratives by staging psychologically charged domestic interiors, this installation transforms the gallery space into a densely furnished bedroom. Norman Swann, the bedroom’s fictional, absent inhabitant, first appeared as the protagonist in Elmgreen & Dragset’s 2013 exhibition “Tomorrow” at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where the artists turned a section of the museum into Mr. Swann’s grand family home.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Galerie Perrotin Archive

Mr. Swann is a symbol of a generation for whom the AIDS crisis came as a life-altering shock in the early 1980s. However, having survived the epidemic, he now faces a retirement age that for him was neither expected nor planned. The story of Norman Swann is the story of growing older, of values shifting over time. An old man whose lifestyle and beliefs are grounded in the past and no longer align with contemporary culture, Swann’s character can be regarded as a metaphor for “Old Europe”, stubbornly refusing to face its changed position within the world. The detailed environment draws inspiration from late 19th-century interior paintings, as did films directed by Ingmar Bergman or Luchino Visconti. “Past Tomorrow” follows the life of Mr. Swann, an elderly, disillusioned and failed architect, after his inheritance runs out and he is forced to leave his home in London’s South Kensington neighborhood, resettling in a smaller apartment in New York’s Upper East Side. The exhibition now focuses solely on his bedroom, which is filled with elements related to his turbulent biography and the nostalgia, sorrows and regrets of his personal life.

Info: “Past Tomorrow”, Galerie Perrotin, New York, 909 Madison Ave. & 73rd Str., N. York, Duration: 16/4-23/5/15, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat: 10:00-18:00, www.perrotin.com