Photographed by Attilio Maranzano

Human beings are essentially lab rats. At least comparatively so as test subjects in Belgian artist Carsten Höller's experiment and participatory-based artwork. Influenced by research experiments from scientific history, Höller's work is designed to deconstruct our psychological habit of detachment from the art we view by actively engaging the audience in experiences (or experiments) as varied as floating nude in a giant tank of sodium solution, sleeping overnight in rotating beds, or slipping down multiple-story-high slides. The show is an immersive environment, part laboratory and part wonderland amusement park, encouraging viewer engagement while simultaneously gauging the limits of human perception. 

Co-published by Skira Rizzoli and the New Museum, Carsten Höller: Experience functions much like a scientific dictionary, chronicling themes and ideas practiced in Höller's work over the past two decades. Signature relational sculptures and environments are coupled with text-based contributions by Daniel Birnbaum, Gary Carrion-Murayari, Germano Celant, Lynne Cooke, Hal Foster, Massimiliano Gioni, Jessica Morgan, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Philippe Parreno, Gloria Sutton, and Rosemarie Trockel, among others. 

© Carsten Höller: Experience, Skira Rizzoli / New Museum, 2011. 

Photographed by Agostino Osio

Photographed by Attilio Maranzano

Photographed by Attilio Maranzano/Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin

Photographed by Jens Ziehe

Written by Andrew Shang