Two arches of rust-brown steel stand apart in a Manhattan gallery, with nothing between them. Step into the gap, and the curves start to make sense. You are standing inside a steel oval office sculpture, the Oval Office rebuilt at nearly full size and stripped of everything that makes it recognizable.
The work is by Elmgreen & Dragset, the Danish-Norwegian artist duo. Titled Transition, it opened at Pace Gallery and runs through 16 January 2027. The show is the latest in the duo’s “Powerless Structures” series, which they began in 1997.
The steel oval office sculpture is a traversable, two-part structure made of Cor-Ten steel. Reports differ on its weight. One account gives 36 tonnes, while the gallery listings put it at 40 tons. Its height is 3.6 meters, and it spans about 9 meters. The steel was fabricated in northern Germany, and the pieces were shipped to New York by sea in an open crate.
Inside this steel oval office sculpture, Elmgreen & Dragset placed the lattice windows and the door to match the real room. They removed the desk, the curtains, the carpets and the furniture. What remains is volume. “We discovered that the Oval Office is actually not very big,” Elmgreen said at a preview of the show. “So we asked what it becomes if it’s pure volume.”
The comparison to Richard Serra is hard to avoid. Pace’s own description links the steel oval office sculpture to Serra’s Torqued Ellipses, the curved steel forms that only reveal themselves as you walk around them. The duo’s cuts and openings also recall Gordon Matta-Clark’s architectural interventions. The Oval Office, though, is a room whose meaning most people already know, and that knowledge arrives slowly as visitors move through it.
Monumental sculpture that makes power feel physical has a long lineage, and Hew Locke’s gilded busts confronting colonial legacies tackles similar questions about authority and history.
The steel sculpture does more than reference Minimalism. Its surface changes with weather and time. Dragset said the artists take no credit for the finish. The rust developed during the sea crossing, when the open crate exposed the metal to the elements. “It’s a surface of constant transformation,” he said.
The steel oval office sculpture and the room it recreates
The Oval Office was first built in 1909 under President William Howard Taft. Franklin D. Roosevelt had it substantially redesigned in 1934, with the work carried out by New York architect Eric Gugler. Every administration since the late twentieth century has redecorated the room to suit its own taste. Elmgreen & Dragset set all of that aside.
In the adjoining room, the duo hangs six large circular works. This is The Balcony Series. Each piece is silkscreened in black and white onto mirror-polished stainless steel. The photographs show balconies from royal palaces and presidential residences, drawn from newspaper images. The heads of state have been cut out, leaving only silhouettes.
The silhouettes are mirrors. The viewer’s reflection fills the space where the leader’s head should be, and the figures cast shadows on the floor. Elmgreen said the balcony is the real subject. “It’s the guilty architecture,” he said. “It supports and elevates the head of state above people’s heads.”
If the rust and weathered steel here appeal to you, Ibrahim Mahama’s Ghanaian industrial relics in Paris shows how found industrial materials can carry their own history into a gallery.
The identities are not disclosed. The Buckingham Palace scene is easy to recognize, though, and the duo suggests that viewers look at the other balconies for clues. Elmgreen said one ornate balcony suggests Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, whom he recalls waving a small flag for in 1972, when she was proclaimed queen on a different Copenhagen palace. In a greyscale version of the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires, the work points to Argentina‘s current president, Javier Milei.
One work hangs alone on its own wall. It shows former First Lady Nancy Reagan on the White House balcony, joined by a figure in an Easter bunny costume. Some viewers will read the image as playful. Elmgreen & Dragset read it as a reference to Reagan’s public silence during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.
The mirrored surfaces also change with their surroundings. Elmgreen said the panels will reflect whatever room they hang in. “They will suck in the surroundings and tell a different story,” he said. A panel that reflects a blue sky, he added, could almost turn into a Magritte.
Via wallpaper.com
Frequently asked questions
Where and until when can you see Elmgreen & Dragset’s Transition?
Transition is on view at Pace Gallery in Manhattan and runs through 16 January 2027. It is the latest in the duo’s “Powerless Structures” series, which they began in 1997.
What material is the Elmgreen & Dragset Oval Office sculpture made from?
The steel Oval Office sculpture is made of Cor-Ten steel. The steel was fabricated in northern Germany and shipped to New York by sea in an open crate.
How tall is the steel Oval Office sculpture and how wide does it span?
The sculpture is 3.6 meters high and spans about 9 meters. Reports differ on its weight, with one account giving 36 tonnes and gallery listings giving 40 tons.
Why does the Oval Office steel sculpture have rust on it?
The rust developed during the sea crossing, when the open crate exposed the metal to the elements. The artists say they take no credit for the finish, which keeps changing with weather and time.
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