03 March 2007

Hmmm but is it art?


The turbine hall at the Tate Modern currently has an installation by Carsten Holler. Basically According to the Tate's website, Holler believees that the experience of sliding is summed up in a phrase by French writer Roger Caillois. It is as a 'voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind'. Höller says he is interested in the the visual spectacle of watching people sliding and the 'inner spectacle' experienced by the sliders themselves, the state of simultaneous delight and anxiety that they enter as they descend.

He has installed six smaller slides in other galleries and he sees it as a prototype for an even larger enterprise, in which slides could be introduced across London, or indeed, in any city. How might a daily dose of sliding affect the way we perceive the world? Can slides become part of our experiential and architectural life?

's see the Well that's what he thinks but at the end of the day let's see the Emperor's new clothes for what they are: SLIDES! Perhaps we should stop thinking of Alton Towers or Disney-land/world as just amusement parks and see them as art installations.....

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went down the slides before Christmas. They're good fun, and are quite an impressive sight. Its good to see art that you can participate in rather than just stand and look at.

jams o donnell said...

lad you liked it jimmy. They look like a lot of fun but time was short for me. On the other hand it's a slide to badge it as art strikes me as a bit ludicrous.

Hey when are you starting your blog?? the world needs melodic rock!!!!

Steve Bates said...

In movies, the scenes often show us very ordinary content (cities, streets, hotel or home interiors, etc.), and the art is in the director's POV chosen for the audience.

Are elaborately curved slides really any different in that regard? Whoever designed and built the slides is choosing a POV for the slider. IMHO, if films are art, so are these slides.

jams o donnell said...

I know what you mean Steve. Art is not necessarily confined toa painting or a statue but art is often wrapped up in so much bullshit too.

Seeing the slides and reading what was written about it made me think of the Emperopr's new clothes.

Not that the slides aren't fun though!

elasticwaistbandlady said...

I declare that slides are more fun than slide shows, the Electric Slide, and slide rulers all combined.

I wonder how many dirty old men sit at the chutes opening waiting for skirted women to come careening down the tubes?

jams o donnell said...

THey weren't in evidence but I am sure if they were they could have said they were merely appreciating art!

Anonymous said...

Before travelling down the slides you must put your legs inside a sack which goes up to your waist, so any dirty old men are likely to be very disappointed. Unless the sack and the woman become detached on the way down.

jams o donnell said...

ah well bang goes that idea!