Scenes from an Unrealised Film: The Script

Cover of the script for 'Tomorrow'. © Elmgreen & Dragset

“At the age of 74, Norman Swann still lives in his family home, a grand apartment in South Kensington. Now a retiree, he had served for decades as a part-time teacher of architecture at Cambridge University. However, Norman did not achieve any success as an architect himself and he never managed to realise a single one of his own visionary projects. Burdened with his cultural heritage, his snobbish family background, and a home filled with antiques and paintings collected by his ancestors – all symbols of more glamorous times – his own life today is reduced to daydreaming in a small study behind the kitchen.”

In a specially commissioned script accompanying Tomorrow, Elmgreen & Dragset present the story of the installation’s fictional occupant. We meet Norman Swann on the eve of his 75th birthday. Disillusioned and bankrupt, the elderly architect is refusing to vacate the apartment he has been forced to sell to a former protégé.

Exploring themes of inter-generational conflict, London’s hyper-inflated property market, and the place of cultural heritage in a modern world, the script provides a narrative to populate the installation’s empty spaces with imagined characters and scenarios. As you peek in on this private world, you may find yourself beginning to question the role that you have to play in the drama.

You can download the script to read before or after your visit, or pick up a copy of the free printed book inside the exhibition entrance (subject to availability).

This script contains material of an adult nature.

© Elmgreen & Dragset