With their exhibition Stillleben mit gemüse, the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset transforms the Städel Museum into a fascinating interplay of reality and illusion. Their sculptures and installations enter into a dialogue with the architecture and the permanent collection of the Städel Museum, which spans over 700 years, opening up new and surprising perspectives.

Unlike other exhibitions, Stillleben mit gemüse extends across the entire Städel Museum. Two immersive installations in the Contemporary Art Collection form the core of the presentation, which unfolds throughout the historic collections and into the neighbouring Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung. The exhibition places the visitors at the centre by inviting them to embark on a treasure hunt where artworks can be discovered in unusual places, often in almost absurd dialogue with the works from the collection.

Elmgreen & Dragset have been collaborating since the mid-1990s and are among some of the most influential contemporary artists working today. While often being referred to as sculptors, the artists work in an expanded field that also includes installation, performance and architecture. Their works challenge familiar spatial structures and imbue both public and institutional spaces with a distinctive atmosphere.

Elmgreen & Dragset succeed in making familiar museum structures experienceable anew through nuanced shifts. Through their targeted interventions, they open up interstitial spaces and question habitual perspectives and expectations.

(Svenja Grosser, curator of the exhibition and head of contemporary art)

Elmgreen & Dragset situate their figurative sculptures in such a way that they invite the audience to participate in an active game of storytelling. By redirecting and shifting the visitor’s gaze, the artists bring everyday moments that are easily overlooked into focus and turn these into poetic scenes charged with both criticality and humour. Through their elaborate sense of display, they are able to deal with serious questions about social structures, behavioural patterns rooted in conventions and institutional routines in an engaging rather than didactic way. The artist duo also examines how the museum itself shapes our perception of art history. They subtly subvert traditional forms of presentation and play with the rules of exhibition-making.