This autumn, the New Museum will present the first New York survey exhibition of the work of German artist Carsten H枚ller (b.1961). Over the past twenty years, H枚ller has created a world that is equal parts laboratory and test site, exploring such themes as childhood, safety, love, the future and doubt. H枚ller left his early career as a scientist in 1993 to devote himself exclusively to art making, and his work is often reminiscent of research experiments. His pieces are designed to explore the limits of human sensorial perception and logic through carefully controlled participatory experiences.
The New Museum鈥檚 exhibition will include work produced over the past eighteen years in an immersive, interactive installation choreographed in collaboration with the artist. H枚ller will actively engage the Museum鈥檚 architecture, with each of the three main gallery floors and lobby of the building presenting a focused selection of pieces that demonstrate different experiential dimensions of his work. Functioning as an alternative transportation system within the Museum, one of H枚ller鈥檚 signature slide installations will run from the fourth floor to the second, perforating ceilings and floors, to shuttle viewers through the exhibition as a giant 102-foot-long pneumatic mailing system. The exhibition features a new light installation; disorienting architectural environments; a spectacular mirrored carousel; and a sensory deprivation pool, among others. Also included will be a recreation of H枚ller鈥檚 Experience Corridor, where viewers are invited to undertake simple but affecting tests on themselves.
The selected works emphasize the experimental quality of H枚ller鈥檚 work and reveal the complex universe of one of the most significant European artists to emerge in the past twenty years. H枚ller came to prominence alongside a group of artists in the 1990s including Maurizio Cattelan, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Pierre Huyghe, Philippe Parreno, and Rirkrit Tiravanija who worked across disciplines to re-imagine the experience and the space of art. H枚ller stands out among this group for the manner in which his installations drew on the history and method of scientific experimentation to destabilize the viewer鈥檚 perception of space, time, and the concept of self.
Carsten H枚ller: Experience will be on view from until 15 January 2012.
Images (top to bottom):
Carsten H枚ller, Psycho Tank, 1999. Installation view, 鈥淯ne exposition a Marseille,鈥 Musee d鈥橝rt Contemporain, Marseille, France, 2004. Photo: 漏 Attilio Maranzano
Carsten H枚ller, Giant Psycho Tank, 1999. Installation view, 鈥淭he Vincent,鈥 Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, 2000. Photo courtesy Esther Schipper, Berlin
Carsten H枚ller, Maison Ronqui猫res (The Laboratory of Doubt), 2000. Installation view,鈥淒ivided Divided,鈥 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2010 Courtesy Fondazione Prada, Milan. Photo: 漏 Atillio Maranzano
Carsten H枚ller, Umkehrbrille (Upside Down Goggles), 1994/2001. Installation view, 鈥淯ne exposition a Marseille,鈥 Musee d鈥橝rt Contemporain, Marsaille, France, 2004. Photo: 漏 Attilio Maranzano
Carsten H枚ller, Infrared Room, 2004. Installation view, 鈥淯ne exposition a Marseille,鈥 Musee d鈥橝rt Contemporain, Marseille, France, 2004. Courtesy Photo: 漏 Attilio Maranzano
Carsten H枚ller, Lichtraum (Light Room), 2008. Installation view, 鈥淐arrousel,鈥 Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, 2008. Photo: 漏 Markus Tretter
Carsten H枚ller, Giant Triple Mushrooms, 2009. Installation view, 鈥淒ivided Divided,鈥 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2010. Photo: 漏 Attilio Maranzano
