Pixelsumo is the blog of
Chris O'Shea, an artist and designer based in London.
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Tate Modern as a playground
Posted October 9th 2006 under Playgrounds
German artist Carsten Holler has been commissioned to create this new work, entitled Test Site, for the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, part of the Unilever Series. Test Site consists of 5 giant spiralling slides, linking the upper galleries with the Hall!
“Carsten Holler has called his work Test Site as it relates to his wider interest in the application of slides as a means of human transportation and his exploration of how participants might be stimulated. This installation is, in part, an open experiment into the reception of slides by the public and the effect they have on those who use them” (source: press release)
I got to experience the work of Carsten in the form of Frisbeehouse (Tate 2000) and a slide in Berlin. I’m really pleased to see his work on such a scale.
“The slides changed the daily routine of those who experienced them, altering their modes of traveling and their conception of social appropriateness. In the midst of a public space, traveling down a slide like a child in a playground, one loses all sense of control, exactly what one fears in a collective environment” (source: snow show).
I can’t wait to go and see this. BBC News has a better report and video (showing people flying out of the slides). Simon Crerar (who provided the top photos) has also posted a video on the Times Online. Interesting Tate press release.
Bottom photo © Tate Photography
Comments
(October 11th 2006)
Wow! That’s so awesome! I love the Tate …
(December 19th 2007)
Those bloody slides hurt my arse.
(June 11th 2009)
Where are the slides now? Who acquired them and are they open to the public?are they still in the uk? as basically they are a dry version of the flumes you find at leisure centres up and down the country.