Carsten Höller "Y"

 

Carsten Höller

Y, 2003

960 lightbulbs, aluminium, wood, cables, electronic circuitry, light signs, mirrors
Overall Installation: approx. 1300 x 850 x 320 cm
Y offers a disorienting experience. The work – a y-shaped walking passage encircled by a continuous spiral of flashing white light bulbs – was created for “Dreams and Conflicts. Delays and Revolution” in the Italian Pavilion at the 2003 Venice Biennale. The white lights flash in a sequence that gives the impression of electricity moving through the spiral, lighting up one bulb after another. While remaining stationary, the structure appears to be spinning in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, depending on the direction of the light sequence. Like a horizontal tornado, Y sucks viewers into its swirling passage way, only to set them at a fork in the road. Each branch in Y leads either to a dead-end, which forces viewers to retrace their steps, or to a mirror, which creates another type of repetition in the guise of a reflection. With its spiraling and doubling movements, Y confuses the viewer while remaining itself intact. Within Höller’s oeuvre, Y belongs to an ongoing series of installations featuring walls of white light bulbs that flash in unison, on and off. The series began with the installation Light Wall (2000), which was made for the artist’s solo exhibition “Synchrosystem” at the Prada Foundation in Milan in 2000-2001. Indeed, the light bulbs flash so quickly and so intensely that viewers with a history of epileptic attacks are warned to stay away. For Höller, Y is also related to the Max Frisch novel "Mein Name sei Gantenbein" from 1964. The protagonist Gantenbein plays with several identities, eventually pretending to be a blind man. Turning his vision on and off at his own leisure, Gantenbein comes to enjoy observing other people who think that he cannot see them.