Doubt: Carsten Höller at HangarBicocca
by Maria Vittoria di Sabatino
Spring has come at last and amusement parks are opening again after the winter break. But why go to a Luna park when Carsten Höller’s exhibition has recently opened at the Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan?
Occuring at the same time as MiArt, Doubt opened on the 7th of April and will be on display until the 31st of July. Nevertheless, Höller’s show is probably the most distant to an art fair one could find. The solo show occupies an enormous section of the HangarBicocca and displays a series of works requiring interaction from the visitor. Interestingly, the exhibition warnings are almost as extensive as the exhibition booklet. For his “penetrating inquiry into the nature of human experience”, Carsten Höller and the curator Vicente Todolì are attracting the viewer by using the power of doubt — “May I enter the tunnel?” “Who is there on the other side of the phone?” “What is art?” “Is this art?” “May I sit under the aquarium?” and so on.
The exhibition buzzes open with Double Carousel (2011), a walkable ribbed tunnel structure surrounded by alternating light bulbs. As an immediate contrast, the second work you walk into is a pitch-black metal labyrinth with alternating climbs and descents. On the other side of this mazy structure, a proper amusement park unravels: aquariums, giant twisted mushrooms, chair-o-planes, light corridors, mirror doors, etc.
For the rest of the exhibition path, the visitor is invited to enter and play with the works on display. His attention is constantly requested to switch from one to the other work, like a kid in a candy store.
Höller is not new to creating works of monumental size that involve the spectator in a full sensuous experience. Indeed, Test Site (2006), a 55-meter-long slide, will be dearly missed at Tate Modern. The artist challenges the spectators, but he does not want to force them. He challenges them ironically and friendly, not to abuse of them, but to amuse them.
Originally published at uberaura.wix.com.
