{"id":23779,"date":"2015-08-17T14:30:13","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T12:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=23779"},"modified":"2015-08-17T14:30:13","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T12:30:13","slug":"carsten-hollers-london-show-is-a-giant-laboratory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/carsten-hollers-london-show-is-a-giant-laboratory\/","title":{"rendered":"Carsten H\u00f6ller&#039;s London Show is a Giant Laboratory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=size--small><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23782\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Carsten-H\u00f6ller-Half-Mirror-Room-2008_2015-and-Snake-2014-\u00a9-Carsten-H\u00f6ller.-Installation-View-Carsten-H\u00f6ller-l-Decision-Hayward-Gallery-London-2015.-Courtesy-of-the-artist.jpg\" alt=\"Carsten H\u00f6ller, installation view, Hayward Gallery. Courtesy of the artist\" width=\"716\" height=\"477\" \/> Carsten H\u00f6ller, installation view, Hayward Gallery, courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n<p>Carsten H\u00f6ller\u2019s retrospective at London\u2019s Hayward Gallery has opened to a slightly hysteric fanfare; with photos of punishing queues to enter Holler\u2019s wonderland populating Instagram feeds as frequently as the Belgian artist\u2019s infamous slides. It\u2019s a show of cumulative possibilities, and a platform for interaction, bearing similarities to the fun of a playground while still indulging the cerebral qualities of more conventional contemporary art.<\/p>\n<p class=size--small><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23785 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Carsten-H\u00f6llerp-Isomeric-Slides-2015-during-installation-of-Carsten-H\u00f6ller_-Decision-at-Hayward-Gallery-Courtesy-the-artist-and-LUMA-Foundation.jpg\" alt=\"Carsten-H\u00f6ller,p-Isomeric-Slides,-2015-during-installation-of-Carsten-H\u00f6ller_-Decision-at-Hayward-Gallery,-Courtesy-the-artist-and-LUMA-Foundation\" width=\"516\" height=\"650\" \/> Carsten H\u00f6ller, installation view, Hayward Gallery, courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n<p>The artist is, as his work implies, a lapsed scientist \u2013 he did a doctorate in biology, specialising in the ways that aphids (plant lice) navigate the world. One outcome lands you in a pitch-black metal maze that forms H\u00f6ller\u2019s first participatory project of this expansive show. Forced to follow the voices and metallic clamber of those in front, it takes five laborious minutes before any shaft of light appears. It\u2019s an ambitious entrance, and indicative of the artist\u2019s free reign to completely reimagine the Hayward\u2019s brutalist concrete space. The space can immediately feels claustrophobic, uncomfortable, frustrating and playful, and the interaction with it is probably closer to an encounter with existential dread than any traditional gallery excursion.<\/p>\n<p class=size--small><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23780 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Carsten-H\u00f6ller-Decision-Corridors-2015-\u00a9-Carsten-H\u00f6ller.-Installation-View-Carsten-H\u00f6ller-l-Decision-Hayward-Gallery-London-2015.jpg\" alt=\"Carsten-H\u00f6ller,-Decision-Corridors,-2015-\u00a9-Carsten-H\u00f6ller.-Installation-View-Carsten-H\u00f6ller-l-Decision,-Hayward-Gallery,-London-2015\" width=\"716\" height=\"479\" \/> Carsten H\u00f6ller, installation view, Hayward Gallery, courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n<p>Bourriaud\u2019s &#8220;Relation Aesthetics&#8221; might provide the most exquisite conceptual framework for H\u00f6ller\u2019s practice, which takes as its theoretical and practical point of departure, &#8220;the whole of human relations and their social context&#8221;. Where relational aesthetics assert the aesthetic nature of relational works, and hence their value as art, it\u2019s these formal qualities that become quickly identifiable in the interpersonal relationships H\u00f6ller seeks to engage. Yet, &#8220;Alice in Wonderland&#8221; could be an equally fixed visual reference, with red and white pills, optical experiments, and giant mushrooms all punctuating proceedings at H\u00f6ller\u2019s &#8220;Decisions&#8221;<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The rules are simple and H\u00f6ller recreates a carnival atmosphere. The Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin discussed the carnival as a place that &#8220;celebrates temporary liberation [\u2026] from the established order&#8221;, a place where hierarchical division is negated. It might be a lofty link, but the show feels like a genuine engagement with passion and experience when you see both adults and children crawling around, popping pills, plunging multi-storey slides and sticking their heads into a giant dice. It\u2019s a decadent indulgence of Bakhtin\u2019s spirit of the carnival, as a space where social order is freely suspended and where people relate to each other freely and openly.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the fairground fever of H\u00f6ller\u2019s world, simplicity also reveals itself as the artist\u2019s choice weapon and undoubtedly the most effective one. H\u00f6ller\u2019s split-screen film titled &#8220;Fara Fara&#8221;<em>, <\/em>2014, (shown at this year\u2019s Venice Biennale) is a true highlight, documenting Congolese sound clash tradition where two groups play simultaneously and the one playing the longest wins. Visceral, and exacted with stunning precision, it captures the vibrant music scene of Kinshasa with emotive clarity.<\/p>\n<p class=size--small><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23781 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Carsten-H\u00f6ller-Flying-Mushrooms-2015-\u00a9-Carsten-H\u00f6ller.-Installation-View-Carsten-H\u00f6ller-l-Decision-Hayward-Gallery-London-2015.-Courtesy-of-the-artist.jpg\" alt=\"Carsten-H\u00f6ller,-Flying-Mushrooms,-2015-\u00a9-Carsten-H\u00f6ller.-Installation-View-Carsten-H\u00f6ller-l-Decision,-Hayward-Gallery,-London-2015.-Courtesy-of-the-artist\" width=\"716\" height=\"460\" \/> Carsten H\u00f6ller, installation view, Hayward Gallery, courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n<p>H\u00f6ller offers up a compendium of choices in this show, largely governed by whether you choose to participate or observe, but do we really want to make any kind of choice when we experience art? The average working adult already makes about 12 decisions before 9 o\u2019clock in the morning. This decision between active experience and more passive observation is a pertinent one and bluntly administered by H\u00f6ller. Yet, eschewing participation would probably make this exhibition in its dramatised sense of nonsense fall flat on its acid-tongued face. You need to strap yourself to the flying machine and spin on the roof or put on upside-down glasses and blunder around. It\u2019s a show that demands to be physically probed and played with, however impractical or socially awkward that might be.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<strong>Text by Kam Dhillon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0Carsten H\u00f6ller: &#8220;Decision&#8221; is on at the <span class=\"st\">Hayward Gallery<\/span>, Southbank Centre in London until 6 September 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/showroom\/2015\/08\/duane-hanson-elevates-the-ordinary-at-the-serpentine\/\">Duane Hanson\u2019s show is the Anti-Madame Tussauds<\/a><\/p>\n<p>More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/showroom\/2015\/08\/body-and-distortion-interview-with-asger-carlsen\/\">Body and Distortion: Interview with Asger Carlsen<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carsten H\u00f6ller, installation view, Hayward Gallery, courtesy of the artist Carsten H\u00f6ller\u2019s retrospective at London\u2019s Hayward Gallery has opened to a slightly hysteric fanfare; with photos of punishing queues to enter Holler\u2019s wonderland populating Instagram feeds as frequently as the Belgian artist\u2019s infamous slides. It\u2019s a show of cumulative possibilities, and a platform for interaction,&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11856,139],"tags":[1218,3021,3022,3023,3024,3025,3026,3027,3028,1238],"class_list":["post-23779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sleek-art","category-art","tag-showroom","tag-bourriaud","tag-carsten-holler","tag-hayward-gallery","tag-kam-dhillon","tag-kinshasa","tag-mikhail-bakhtin","tag-relation-aesthetics","tag-southbank-centre","tag-venice-biennale"],"acf":{"main_category":null,"legacy":"1","exclude_from_ads":null,"hero_title":null,"subtitle":null,"hero":null,"teasers":null,"facebook_image":null,"related_articles":null,"next_article":null,"sleek_card_focus":null,"content":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Carsten H\u00f6ller&#039;s London Show is a Giant Laboratory Carsten H\u00f6ller&#039;s London Show is a Giant Laboratory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/carsten-hollers-london-show-is-a-giant-laboratory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Carsten H\u00f6ller&#039;s London Show is a Giant Laboratory Carsten H\u00f6ller&#039;s London Show is a Giant Laboratory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Carsten H\u00f6ller, installation view, Hayward Gallery, courtesy of the artist Carsten H\u00f6ller\u2019s retrospective at London\u2019s Hayward Gallery has opened to a slightly hysteric fanfare; with photos of punishing queues to enter Holler\u2019s wonderland populating Instagram feeds as frequently as the Belgian artist\u2019s infamous slides. 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