Trained as a scientist, Carsten Höller creates situations that probe sensory, social and psychological conditions, from large-scale installations that unsettle our sense of self to ludic instructions inspired by the Surrealists. His works call the order of reality into question and push logic to the extent that it becomes absurd.
Höller’s four-metre-tall Giant Triple Mushroom (2025) presented in the Giardino delle Vergini, continues a series of massive sculptural collages composed of one-half Amanita muscaria (or fly agaric), one-quarter of a second fungus, and another quarter of a third. The recurring fly agarics are considered to be the main component of soma, the potion praised in Vedic hymns. Höller’s interest in mushrooms lies in their cultural and ecological importance. Neither plant nor animal, they are quite foreign to us, yet their mycelial influence is far-reaching.
For Smell of My Father and Smell of My Mother, olfactory works first presented in 2017, Höller collected chemical compounds from his mother’s scarf and his late father’s hat. The air around two benches is impregnated by a synthesised version of their odours, potentially attaching to visitors. Its subconscious influence spreads like spores through the exhibition and beyond, potentially altering our experience and ourselves.
—Stefanie Hessler
