06.09.2016-08.12.2016
Carsten Höller
Zoology
For a long time, I've been curious about applying the methodology of art as one way--which I think is equal to science and other powerful explanatory concepts—for us to understand what is surrounding us and what we are.
—Carsten Höller
Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present "Zoology," Carsten Höller's first exhibition in Geneva.
Trained as a scientist, Höller both echoes and surpasses scientific procedures in his work as an artist. Many of his projects invite viewer participation in order to question the facts and forms of human life. From carousels that reflect and disorient, to winding slippery slides, to vision-flipping goggles, Höller actively interrogates the functions of logic, perception, and entertainment in the larger biosphere.
"Zoology" is a selection of Höller's recent sculptures, photographs, and prints, made between 2008 and 2016, which consider how different forms of animal life might relate to human embodied awareness. Through taxidermy, casting, molding, and collage, Höller presents beings that cannot be easily categorized: they are animals, but they do not occur in nature; they are the products of anthropocentric will—of mutation, breeding, and grafting.
It is this tactile wit that brings the sculptures into a surreal or hyperreal realm, between human and animal, between nature and art, taking us along with them.