Life Rings
Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset are known for sculptures that modify inconspicuous everyday objects, shifting the values associated with those items. In Life Rings, they have chosen the lifebuoy, a rescue device that symbolises security in crisis situations. This typically singular, reusable, lightweight item is multiplied in absurdum and rendered in heavy stainless steel. While this material makes it more durable and elevates it to a higher status associated with art and architecture, the buoy loses its original life-saving purpose.

The tower-like structure of Life Rings, measuring almost 8 metres tall, seems to defy the rules of gravity and logic, as each ring seems to support the other in a chain-link configuration that reaches towards the sky. The work looks strangely familiar near the waterside but might at the same time confound and instil a moment of wonder in the viewer. In the tension between recognition and bewilderment, a humorous and poetic moment occurs, that ultimately make us more aware of our surroundings and relationships.

Embedded in the sculpture Life Rings is an aspiration for wide-reaching cooperation and solidarity in a world in which over-emphasis on the individual has led to a decline in community. Elmgreen & Dragset’s work calls for reflection and invites us to contemplate humanity and the fragility of life.

Life Rings was the second sculpture acquired by the Princess Estelle Cultural Foundation and was acquired thanks to gifts from Lisen & Richard Båge, Ulrica & Paul Frankenius, and an anonymous donor. The sculpture was inaugurated on 8 June 2021 by HRH Prince Daniel in a digital ceremony.