SHORT CUT by Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset

With a piece in which a white car towing a trailer emerges from a long imaginary journey to the center of the earth out of the floor of the central octagon in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset make a unique incursion into the daily life of Milan and its history, reinterpreting one of the city’s iconic landmarks.

A metaphor for global tourism, but also a symbol for the precarious nature of today’s world, the installation Short Cut (2003) describes a universe in movement that travels along endless, unpredictable paths towards fanciful destinations. For their first public project in Italy, the two artists also chose to tackle local stereotypes: the car is a run-of-the-mill white Fiat Uno with Naples plates, and on the dash one can see a map of Rimini.

Mixed media, Fiat Uno, camper trailer, about 250 x 850 x 300 cm
Commissioned and produced by Fondazione Nicola Trussardi
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Photo Fondazione Nicola Trussardi