Elmgreen & Dragset: It’s Never Too Late To Say Sorry

The performance by the Danish-Norwegian artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset focuses on the act of apology. Over the entire duration of the exhibition, every day at around 12 pm a man approaches a glass-domed vitrine at Karl-Friedrich-Straße from which he takes a megaphone and proceeds to call out the title of the work to passersby: »It’s Never Too Late To Say Sorry«.

Though the performance was designed in 2011 for Sculpture International Rotterdam, and was on show in Munich and New York, it alters its meaning depending on the cultural, regional, and historical context of each performance venue. In Karlsruhe, the declaration makes reference to the city, which apologizes to the inhabitants for the construction projects in the inner-city area. At the same time, and with a certain wink of an eye, this provocative action calls for passersby to reflect on their attitudes, and to express such apologies, which possibly are still outstanding.