But is it Art?

[michael_boylan]

Carsten Holler's new installation at the Tate Modern. I'd like to hear a convincing argument that this is Art. Whether it is or not it is certainly popular and why shouldn't a gallery have a great big slide?

061031_CarstenHoller10.jpg

061031_CarstenHoller15a.jpg

061031_CarstenHoller19.jpg

061031_CarstenHoller23.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Michael

[semrich]

Who knows? However your shots capture all it elements very well.

[jacksparrow]

because it's beautiful?... more artistic to me than most conterporary art exhibited in those places though.
nice pics by the way

[martinop]

Informative series. Like #4 perspective and composition.

[spylaw4]

#4 does it for me! Great!

[wide.angle]

To me, the image you made as a side view shows off its symetry, and symetrical patterns can be pleasing to the eye. It also has clean lines, very modern and sleek. I'm no expert, but my humble view is that these qualities allow it to exist as art, while drawing people for the fun it brings, and then they will see the other art as well.

Cheers.

[ejd]

Art because it extends and enhances our experience of and interaction with the space (the Turbine Hall). It makes us experience the gallery in a new way -- not merely quietly parading in front of the pictures or other exhibits, but getting inside one and having sensations impressed upon us. And of course the sliders become part of the 'art' for others in the gallery.

Are you convinced now, Michael?

[jmr]

Michael,

number 4 is plain scary

[fotografr]

Well, if it wasn't art before, it is now in these images. Number 4 makes me a bit dizzy. I think you should go back there and do a slow shutter speed self portrait of yourself going down the slide in Number 4.

[michael_boylan]

Originally Posted by fotografr

Well, if it wasn't art before, it is now in these images. Number 4 makes me a bit dizzy. I think you should go back there and do a slow shutter speed self portrait of yourself going down the slide in Number 4.

That was my plan. But you're not allowed take anything into the slide and you have to get into a canvas sack. On the higher slide (in pic No 4) they also make you wear skateboarder elbow and knee guards.

Given the RAW write time on the D2 you could only take one shot per descent

[michael_boylan]

Originally Posted by ejd

Art because it extends and enhances our experience of and interaction with the space (the Turbine Hall). It makes us experience the gallery in a new way -- not merely quietly parading in front of the pictures or other exhibits, but getting inside one and having sensations impressed upon us. And of course the sliders become part of the 'art' for others in the gallery.

John, do you write this stuff for a living? All right, you've convinced me!

[earleygallery]

Michael, nice shots! I love Tate Modern, but haven't had time to get to see/try this one yet!

For me, it's always important to understand the artists perspective, and motives behind their work. I've lifted this from the TM website (I'm a member so I reckon I'm allowed)

For Carsten Höller, the experience of sliding is best summed up in a phrase by the French writer Roger Caillois as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’. The slides are impressive sculptures in their own right, and you don’t have to hurtle down them to appreciate this artwork. What interests Höller, however, is both the visual spectacle of watching people sliding and the ‘inner spectacle’ experienced by the sliders themselves, the state of simultaneous delight and anxiety that you enter as you descend.

To date Höller has installed six smaller slides in other galleries and museums, but the cavernous space of the Turbine Hall offers a unique setting in which to extend his vision. Yet, as the title implies, he sees it as a prototype for an even larger enterprise, in which slides could be introduced across London, or indeed, in any city. How might a daily dose of sliding affect the way we perceive the world? Can slides become part of our experiential and architectural life?

Höller has undertaken many projects that invite visitor interaction, such as Flying Machine (1996) that hoists the user through the air, Upside-Down Goggles (1994/2001) that modify vision, and Frisbee House (2000) - a room full of Frisbees. The slides, like these earlier works, question human behaviour, perception and logic, offering the possibility for self-exploration in the process.