Carsten Höller: LEBEN

Carsten Höller's exhibition LEBEN at TBA21–Augarten is conceived as an experimental parcours. It pivots around a selection of works—some drawn from TBA21’s collection of contemporary art and others commissioned and conceived especially for the exhibition— that invite specific forms of interaction, induce moods and affects, and generate “oriented” behaviors. As an extension of the exhibition, the iconic work Y(2003) is installed in the Upper Belvedere’s stunning Marble Hall. The Elevator Bed (2010) can be rented nightly by guests in collaboration with Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom.

Surreal giant hybrid mushrooms, a functional flotation tank that enables corporeal stasis, a clock that gives the time only at select intervals, dream-enhancing toothpaste, and an elevated bed available for overnight booking—all these works play a part in Carsten Höller’s exhibition LEBEN to let visitors experience a different kind of logic, one that is far from habitual. However, what is at stake? Which use and practice is being proposed, if indeed the new rules of a hitherto unknown logic essentially seem to cause confusion? Only this much seems clear: the rules adopted by the visitors relate to the large and universal communality of existence and aliveness, and the knowledge of both. At the same time, the works thought of as tools provide the possibility of perceiving rudimentary and everyday activities (sleeping, bathing) differently than usual. They take place in a space, context and condition that no longer complies with a utilitarian rationale.

Elevator Bed (2010), the central element within the exhibition space, is as much a proposition as it is an installation. It can be booked on a nightly basis by prospective guests through a collaboration with Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom. The bed is mounted on a platform, which can be raised to different heights, up to 3.5 meters, allowing guests to spend the night perched high above the other works the exhibition hall. Before going to sleep, guests are instructed to brush their teeth with Insensatus Vol. 1 Fig. 1, a dream-inducing series of toothpastes specially prepared in a local Viennese pharmacy, based on an original recipe devised by Höller and the perfumer Ben Gorham.

The water in High Psycho Tank contains a high concentration of Epsom salts. Visitors can undress and immerse themselves in the floatation tank, experiencing a sense of weightlessness and sensory equilibrium. The exhibition is accompanied and structured by Half Clock, a newly created work that functions as both a utilitarian time display and a seemingly illogical conundrum, with its seeming ability to alternately speed up or slow down the passage of time. High above the heads of viewers, two pairs of trained bullfinches housed within a set of balanced aviaries in the form of a scale whistle a melody that becomes part of the sound track of the show.

The newly created film installation Fara Fara shows auditions and rehearsals for a musical clash between two stars of the vibrant Congolese music scene. The work introduces themes of duality and juxtaposition. Similar themes of duplication and division are prominent in Höller’s Vienna Twins. Here two identical siblings lead a completely logical, and at the same time confusing, conversation with a rhythmic and repetitive structure.

Outside, on the Augarten grounds, a moment of visual dissection is captured sculpturally in Giant Multiple Mushrooms. The two oversize fungi, one mature and the other still developing, are composed of four split mushroom bodies. They constitute a surreal moment of hybridity.

As an extension of the exhibition at Augarten and an additional experience for visitors, a special installation of the iconic work Y (2003), a split passageway encircled by a seemingly infinite halo of flashing white lightbulbs, is shown in cooperation with Vienna’s Belvedere in the spectacular Marble Hall. Y, which is from the collection of TBA21, articulates the dilemma of individual choice as a question of contingency.

OPENING: Thursday, July 10, 7 pm