Revolving Hotel Room 2008

This is Carsten Holler’s “Revolving Hotel Room,” and I’m just imagining him constructing a site of inquiry for the artist and the viewer. It feels like a dreamscape, doesn’t it? Like something from a science fiction film set, the artist has created this fully functioning, fully rotating hotel room. I imagine he was thinking about the nature of perception and reality, creating a space that challenges our sense of stability and orientation. I love that it rotates! It’s like he’s saying, “Hey, don’t get too comfortable. Things are always changing, always in motion.” The light feels stark and institutional, maybe reminiscent of being in a lab or a hospital or a prison, but there’s also a sense of playfulness here, as if it's a surreal, futuristic playground. I think Holler is trying to suggest that art doesn’t have to be just something we look at, but something we experience, something that changes us.