Isometric Slides

Carsten Höller

Carsten Höller has installed a new iteration of Slides, an experimental project he has been producing in different locations for a number of years. The artist is taking advantage of the height of the space to expand on the hypothesis he has been investigating for some time concerning the possible effects of sliding. His work, playful and evocative, questions what would be the effect and result of sliding if it was part of the daily routine. It asks whether slides, which are mostly associated with playgrounds, can become part of our experiential and architectural life. He has noted that "A slide is a sculpture that you can travel inside".

However, it would be a mistake to think that you have to use the slide to make sense of it. From an architectural and practical perspective, the slides are one of the building’s means of transporting people, equivalent to the escalators, lifts or stairs. Slides deliver people quickly, safely and elegantly to their destinations, they’re inexpensive to construct and energy-efficient. They’re also a device for experiencing an emotional state that is a unique condition, somewhere between delight and madness. It was described in the fifties by the French writer Roger Caillois as "a kind of voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind."