This is supported by an ‘interview’ with the artist, Carsten Holler;
“I’m using the Turbine Hall as a model for the whole city for every city, in the future there could be many more in London, elsewhere”
Although this idea has not been established in the world yet, it is an idea that Holler would love to incorporate into everyday life. An example of this would be the slides Holler made for the offices of Prada in Milan, which connects Miuccia Prada’s personal office to her car.
Holler's real interest is the theory that if these slides were incorporated into architectural planning for everyday life in the future, they would make us more motivated, better, happier people.
Holler’s theory is that slides could and perhaps should be incorporated into existing architecture and the architectural planning of future buildings and public spaces, not only because they offer a clean and efficient means of transport, but because the frequent act of sliding could bring about untold changes in our everyday behaviour and outlook.
Holler goes on to explain;
“People coming down a slide have a certain expression, they are affected by it, I’d like to suggest that using slides on an every day basis could change us”
Here, Holler is implying that our world would be a different place with the installation of slides. I wanted to look into this in more detail and to really understand what it feels like to slide.
In the same interview by the Tate Modern, Carsten explains this in his words;
“It’s a vertigo thrill and its addictive, It's a thrill that you can relate to sex or drugs. You can't control it, yet everybody smiles. It gives you a fear that is very pleasant.”
I decided to go on the biggest slide in the hall and test this theory. Going down these slides is a real experience; as I was waiting in line to go on the biggest slide I started to feel my emotions change every second I got closer to the entrance, these slides do have a real effect on everyone using them even when there not sliding. I think the main effect is not only triggered by the act of sliding but also the act of waiting to slide. These have real effect on us all, and the reason this is so amplified in the Tate is because in their natural environment, slides are perceived as a child activity, whereas now they have been taken out of their natural environment (playground) and put in a completely different environment; an art exhibition which is perceived as a cultural adult activity.
From my own personal experience of sliding down one of these snakes of steel, I came to the conclusion that the slides provide a practical form of transportation; the act of going down involves physical and mental control, but gives you a real feeling of freedom. There is delight but anxiety. This is some kind of psychological juxtaposition. This means your brain is confused with the emotions you are experiencing so it decides to experience both.
I travelled on the slides three times and by the third I had the biggest smile on my face, so what would happen if we travelled on these slides every day of our lives? Can this art really change our lives and make us better happier people?
This idea is explained more thoroughly in a review by Martin Skov on A Review of Robert L. Solso’s ;
“The neglect of the affective component of the experience of art in reality also impairs our understanding of the representational component. It is almost certainly the case that the emotional response instilled by a work of art modulates the perceptual and cognitive processing of it.
So I believe what Skov is implying is the fact that because it is art, there may be some emphasis on the human emotional response we get from sliding.
I believe this is supported in ‘The journey of consciousness studies’ by V.S Ramachandran, a prominent professor of neuroscience and psychology who discusses ‘The Peak Shift Effect’
“The peak shift effect is a phenomenon well know in psychological studies, where a subject trained to recognize and respond to a phenomenon will respond even more strongly to an exaggerated instant of it”
I came to realise that it’s not just sliding it's travelling. These slides are extraordinary and unique compared to other slides, as you have a purpose, the purpose being to use the slides as a form of transportation in order to move about the gallery, and as a test subject for an experiment. There is an element of a big brother experience as there are many monitors around the hall showing sliders and it gave me the feeling that someone, maybe the artist, may be watching me. This showed me that the art was intimate and that the artist had a real connection with every slider even though he wasn’t there.
Another way to approach the installation is to look at it outside its context. What is it doing for the Tate? My first impressions of the slides were that they work as a great marketing and advertising tool. As they lead the eye to the different parts of the building, the gallery rooms, the café etc. To back this point up I looked into this deeper and asked the Tate to send me information on estimated figures since the slides were installed;
“Since the slides were installed the percentage of people visiting the paying exhibitions has risen by 4 percent”
Now I understand this could well be coincidental or the figure could relate to the amount of tourists in London at the moment, but I truly believe these figures are the result of the recent installation of these slides. As well as this, the slides have been in the media for quite some time now and have been a symbol that represents the Tate modern. Now when people think of the Tate modern, they think about these slides.
While at the Tate I decided my own experiences were not enough and interviewed a few people about their experiences of the slides, so I could see what the public made of the exhibition.
One woman said;
‘With the stress of being a full time mum, it's as if sliding is a way of freeing yourself from this stress, I felt so different in a matter of seconds, and not only that I have finally managed to get my two boys involved in art’
A young boy said;
‘As I went down the slide I could not stop myself from giggling and smiling, I’m enjoying art and having fun at the same time’
This supports a previous theory made by Carsten Holler, which said that sliding could change our everyday lives and mentalities.
Since the Unilever series began, journalists had been critical about whether they were good enough for the great turbine hall, and more importantly whether they were art.
Jonathan Jones from the Guardian explains;
‘Where its most popular predecessor, Olafur Eliasson's sun, was only mentally vertiginous, Höller has created something that literally gives you vertigo. He challenges you to surrender your body to forces beyond its control.’
To me this sounds like he’s down playing Hollers predecessors and their work, however the source is from the Guardian Arts sections rather than the main newspaper and therefore I believe this to be biased, towards the Tate as the organisations have a business relationship. Guardian has sponsored exhibitions before, and the Tate has featured in various adverts in the Guardian.
Well, is this really art? Carsten Holler, explains;
“A slide is a sculpture you can travel inside”.
I think if art reflects life, then these are a way of displaying human emotion and behaviour as a form of art. If these slides were incorporated into architectural planning and were used in or around buildings in major cities and towns, would they still be art or just another entrance and exit? I believe by taking them out of an art gallery does not mean you are taking them out of context, they still have the exact same meaning and purpose, because they still have the same effect on the audience in an art gallery as they do in a playground.
Leo Tolstoy, the Russian novelist advocated this view in his famous essay; ‘What is Art?’ ;
“to evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced and having evoked it in oneself then by means of movements, lines, colours, sounds or forms expressed in words, so to transmit this feeling that others experience the same feeling this is the activity of art….”
This means Tolstoy believed an artist’s chief job is to express and communicate emotions to an audience which I believe is what Holler has done with his art work. I believe the reason it is art is because it uses contemporary art discourses. For example it involves the spectator in the work. Without ‘us’, the spectator, there would be no art, so really it is ‘us’ that is the main ingredient to making this piece of art. Another example is that he incorporates other areas of art such as architecture, and the surprise element into this piece of work.
In conclusion, this essay has discussed what makes art, and the ingredients you need to make a good piece of art. It looks into how art can affect our perception and emotions. It has discussed whether art, these slides in particular can change our lives and has discussed the significance of whether art can be incorporated into future architectural planning. The artist has attempted to enforce the idea of art changing our lives for the better.What the artist has done is given the audience the chance to relive childhood pastimes by making them remember what it feels like to be young, carefree and joyful. These slides bring the inner child out in everyone. When you’re an adult you forget what it's like to be a child. It’s a thrill, it's excitement, and it's energy, this is what makes you happy. These slides give you a taster of what it's like to be a child again. For children this is just an added bonus and will keep them feeling this way for longer. If you want to feel this way and change your life and mentalities then I would highly recommend finding a slide in your nearest park and putting the thrill and excitement back in your life, if you cannot find a park with a slide, then go and visit ‘Test Site’ at the Tate Modern, it's free and it's open till April.
Bibliography
Press release- Tate Press Office, 9th October 2006
Vincent Honore- The Unilever Series, Test Site: Carsten Holler, 2006
BBC News Website- 9th October 2006-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6034123.stm
Vincent Honore- The Unilever Series, Test Site: Carsten Holler, 2006
Martin Skov- Review of Robert L. Solso’s - April 3rd 2006
Cynthia Freeland- But is it Art?- published 2001
Helen Bolt- Tate Enquiries office- Email regarding estimated figures.
Jonathan Jones- Guardian Arts Sections, 2006, http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/feature/0,,1921617,00.html
Vincent Honore- The Unilever Series, Test Site: Carsten Holler, 2006
Leo Tolstoy- What is Art?- published 1899