The artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset’s large-scale installation, titled Van Gogh’s Ear (2016), will be on view at Victoria Dockside through the end of March 2021 in celebration of the first anniversary of the opening of K11 MUSEA. Internationally acclaimed for their subversive wit and underlying criticality, Elmgreen & Dragset reinterpret familiar spatial structures and question existing cultural stereotypes. Van Gogh’s Ear, which was previously showcased in 2016 at Rockefeller Center in New York, transforms the familiar cityscape faced by Hong Kong residents. The work, making a direct reference to Vincent van Gogh’s left ear which was severed in a fit of mania by the artist himself, provides a refreshing perspective on the structure of the installation, and wittily translates the visual and geometric concepts that prevail in today’s society. 

Van Gogh’s Ear, one of Elmgreen & Dragset’s iconic pieces that demonstrate the duo’s longstanding interest in the swimming pool motif, is an upright, nine-meter-high swimming pool that takes the form of an ear. While its vertical installation prevents it from carrying water, the work features a cyan blue interior (alluding to the presence of water) and a matte-white border, along with elements such as pool lamps, a diving board, and a stainless steel ladder that can easily identify the work as an actual swimming pool. Founded on the Minimalist reductive tradition and using geometric forms, the installation creates a surreal contrast against its hectic urban surroundings, bringing new energy to the city’s iconic neighborhood and challenging existing conventions for public art.