When last we encountered architect Norman Swann he was between bankruptcy and his 75th birthday, still stubbornly ensconced in his family home (opens in new tab) - a grand residence that shared an address with the Victoria & Albert Museum. The ornery bachelor, now 76, has recently traded South Kensington for New York's Upper East Side, where he has downsized to a single splendid room - double-height, dentil moldings, crimson walls - in a landmark 1930s building on Madison Avenue. Until 23 May, visitors are welcome to barge in and snoop around.
'Be a not-so-polite guest - sneak into his private stuff!' encourages Michael Elmgreen, one half of the Danish-Norwegian artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset (opens in new tab), as he reaches for a leather-bound photo album resting not far from a half-drunk cup of tea. 'The more you look at things, the more curious you will get.'
Despite the ephemera of a life in progress - personal photos (handsome young men, gorgeous buildings) and correspondence, shelves of well-thumbed books (Foucault, Proust, a 39-volume set of Shakespeare's complete works in miniature) and stacks of yellowing magazines - Swann is not a real person. He is the creation of Elmgreen & Dragset and his bedroom is their latest solo exhibition, on show at Galerie Perrotin (opens in new tab).
Entitled 'Past Tomorrow' and accompanied by a short book written in the style of a screenplay, it picks up where the artists' 2013 V&A installation left off, with Swann realising he has little more than maquettes to show for a life that prized utopia over reality, theory over practice, dogmatism over compromise.
'We were jealous that filmmakers could focus on a few characters and comment on society through those fictional characters, so that's what we've done over the last few years - look at different characters and try to tell their stories and also our stories through their objects, their collections, all of the traces they leave in a domestic setting,' says Ingar Dragset. 'It's quite rare to make a sequel in an art context, but we're always up for a new challenge.'
Swann, after his stint in London's Victoria & Albert Museum in 2013, has downsized to a single splendid room in New York's Upper East Side, with double-height ceilings, dentil mouldings and crimson walls
Playing host is Galerie Perrotin, which is welcoming visitors to barge in and snoop around the traces of Norman Swann. On display is his book collection, featuring tomes by Marcel Proust and Michel Foucault
Overseeing the installation is 'The Critic', a gilded vulture who cranes his neck over every Elmgreen & Dragset show
The show features all the ephemera of a life in progress, including ghostly portraits and yellowing magazines
Personal photographs of handsome men and gorgeous buildings adorn the walls, allowing glimpses into the ornery bachelor's life
Elmgreen & Dragset say their shows are about telling stories through objects. Here, a sculptural adaptation of Magritte's 'Lovers' takes its place alongside a metronome atop Swann's piano
'The more you look at things, the more curious you get,' says Michael Elmgreen
Elmgreen points out the show is a plush monument to underachievement. 'Norman didn't do so well in life, but a lot of interesting things come out of failure,' he says. Pictured is Swann's beside table, complete with medication and a half-smoked cigar
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