Vitra Slide Tower
Carsten Höller, 2014
The 30.7-metre-high Vitra Slide Tower by the German artist Carsten Höller is a viewing tower, slide and art installation in one. It consists of three diagonal columns that meet at the top, with a revolving clock mounted at their point of intersection measuring six metres in diameter. The construction is vertically accessed via a double-flight staircase fitted into the slanted columns with intermediate landings. A viewing platform at a height of 17 metres offers new perspectives of the Vitra Campus and the surrounding landscape. The platform is the starting point for the 38-metre-long corkscrew tube slide.
About the architect
Carsten Höller, born in Brussels, studied agricultural science at the University of Kiel in Germany, where he received his doctorate in 1993 with a dissertation on olfactory communication among insects. While working as a scientist in the 1980s, he started to methodically employ experiments as a process in artistic works as well. In 1993, Höller was invited to take part in the Aperto show at the Venice Biennale and in 1997 he was represented at documenta X with House for Pigs and People, a joint work with Rosemarie Trockel. In 2005, he collaborated with Miriam Backström on an installation for the Swedish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. His work has also been the subject of important solo exhibitions at the New Museum, New York (2011); Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2010); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2008); MASS MoCA, North Adams, USA (2006); Musée d’Art Contemporain, Marseille (2004); ICA Boston, Massachusetts, USA (2003); and Fondazione Prada, Milan (2000).
