Elmgreen & Dragset, "Powerless Structure No.111," 1998, installation view

Bicycle Thieves was a summer-long project, which took place at eleven exhibition spaces in Chicago and Milwaukee, and featured the work twenty-one Scandinavian artists coming out of the dynamic exhibition scene in and around Copenhagen, Denmark. For this exhibition, Gallery 400 hosted artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, and Gitte Villesen.

Elmgreen and Dragset's work investigates how meaning is constructed in private and institutional architectural spaces. They are particularly interested in inflecting these spaces with signifiers of gay sexuality, with often surreal, incongruous results. In the back rooms of gay bars anonymous sex acts and acts of voyeurism are facilitated through modified architecture. Holes are cut in walls to provide places for eyes and dicks, and men are encouraged to watch, suck, or get sucked off. For their installation in Gallery 400, Elmgreen and Dragset cut perfect holes in stretched white canvases, and suspended them from the ceiling. The result is a sexually charged stage set masquerading as a minimalist installation. There are also mirrored stools, a way to make visible what is usually obscured- the ass and balls- a specific kind of gay voyeurism. Two pairs of white pants are crumpled up on the floor, the relics of a possible performance. We imagine the artists arriving at the gallery, creating their set, performing the suggested acts, and then leaving. The audience chooses whether to re-perform, or simple try to visualize, what has already happened.

Gitte Villesen's photos and videos are focused on the people in her everyday life. Villesen is always present in her videos, either in voice or in person, reinforcing the subjectivity of her approach. Willy, an elderly man from her hometown of Jutland, is the subject of the two videos and one photo-series included in this show. In the video "Willy goes for a drive", Villesen follows Willy as he leaves his house to go for a drive in his car. The video "Who gets the food" is about Willy and the alley cats who once stole his food. By documenting a performance of Willy's everyday activities, Villesen reveals something of the way we create meaning in our lives.