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The New Museum's Giant Slide (And More) Has Arrived!
By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 25, 2011
Modified Oct 26, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 25, 2011
Modified Oct 26, 2011
Share
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New York, say hello to the your newest favorite attraction: Carsten Höller's 102-foot-long slide at the New Museum. The giant plastic tube, which goes down from the museum's fourth floor, through ceilings and floors, to the second floor is now fully operational and will be open to the public from tomorrow through January 15, 2012. And did we mention there is also a sensory deprivation tank? And upside down goggles? And a fish tank you rest your head in? Suddenly getting dragged to the museum seems more like dropping acid and reliving your childhood than a chance to better yourself.
Afraid of sliding down a something that big without protection? Don't be. The Museum will offer helmets and elbow pads to visitors and there will be lockers for you to put your stuff in when sliding. But in fact, to enter the exhibit you need to sign a two-page waiver—some of the stuff there is crazy and very disorienting.
Seriously, the slide isn't the only thing awesome (in the true sense of the word) at the show. This is a survey of Höller's works, including sculptures, diagrams and new installations like the "Psycho Tank" in which you can float weightlessly in a sensory deprivation pool that is heated to 98° and loaded with epsom salt (you can go naked if you like, but be warned it can take up to six visitors and that the waiver you signed said that you don't "have any communicable diseases or other adverse health conditions that could be transmitted by being in water with others.")
Oh, and then there are the goggles that you wear and see the world flipped upside down. And the room where three screens project your image back at you slightly out of sync. And the aquarium where you lay down and rest your head on a water pillow so you feel like you are under water. And the "Double Light Corner" which is actually more like the entire second floor and "uses a sequence of flashing lights to give the viewer the sensation that the space around them is flipping back and forth." Its so disorienting that the museum is going to be giving the guards there sunglasses so they don't go crazy!
But also, giant slide for grownups! Awesomesauce.
P. S. Want to see how they installed that slide? Click here.
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