Elmgreen & Dragset and John Armleder Transform Milan Apartment into Psychedelic Exhibition

MASSIMODECARLO in Milan presents 'Room Service,' a group show featuring Elmgreen & Dragset and John Armleder that subverts the traditional bourgeois domestic space of Casa Corbellini-Wassermann, designed by Piero Portaluppi. The exhibition occupies seven rooms—entrance, living room, study, smoking room, dining room, kitchen, and bedroom—stripping them of original function to create non-places blending art and everyday life. Works include new and previous pieces, with hyperrealism, geometric abstraction, ready-mades, and explorations of public versus private. A centerpiece is 'The Drawing' (2023), a hyperrealist sculpture of a child copying Armleder's 'Untitled' (1992). The show's namesake, 'Room Service' (2023), features a closed door with a 'PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB' sign and a newborn in a carrycot, prompting reflections on family and abandonment. The immersive environment culminates in the former bedroom, whose walls are covered with an optical pattern by Armleder from 2005, paired with kinetic installations 'Social Media (White Poodle)' and 'Wheel of Fortune' (2023) by the duo. The exhibition is rooted in Elmgreen & Dragset's long-standing admiration for Armleder, who was initially a Fluxus scholar, later founded the Ecart group, and embraced neo-geometric conceptualism in the 1980s. All three artists share a fascination with domestic space, here rendered alienating and uncomfortable.