Carsten Höller: Henie Onstad Sanatorium – Oslo, Norway

The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Oslo was transformed into the Henie Onstad Sanatorium by Carsten Höller. Through a series of experimental installations and sculptures, visitors/treatment-seekers could float, slide and fly their way through the Sanatorium. Roaming robot-beds offered the possibility to check-in and spend the night in the gallery for private sessions.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s there were several sanatoriums in the vicinity of the gallery: Sanatoriums were often situated in beautiful scenery, with the older sanatoriums intended to provide recreation and relaxation, more in line with what we might associate today with a spa visit. It was this type of sanatorium and the Henie Onstad’s unique location, that gave Höller the idea for the exhibition’s title and concept: the public are invited to re-experience a sanatorium through the transformative power of art.

The exhibition included one of Carsten Höller’s well known slide installations as well as a reconfigured version of the ‘Decision Corridors’: In Oslo the corridors were attached to the exterior of the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter taking the installation into an external environment for the first time.