Award-winning architects Herzog and de Meuron are designing a new building that will be created on the south side of the existing Tate Modern gallery.
For some truly off-the-wall ideas take a trip to Psycho Buildings, the Hayward Gallery London’s mash up of art and architecture.
The exhibition brings together what they describe as ‘habitat-like sculptures and architecturally inflected installations’. This translates into some pretty weird and spectacular spaces, and maybe a few that would be fun to think about in the context of the new Tate Modern building.
Atelier Bow Wow’s Life Tunnel Photo: © Stephen White
There’s Life Tunnel 2008 by Atelier Bow-Wow, for example. It’s a passageway made from steel that connects two floors of the Hayward gallery. To negotiate it you have to crawl at first, then walk as you find your balance. Another shaft sprouts vertically filling the space with light, and allowing visitors a view down below.
It reminded me of Carsten Höller’s installation at Tate Modern last year. His slides provided an exhilarating ride down from the galleries to the Turbine Hall.
Slidey fun at Tate Modern. Photo: © Tate Photography
Both sculptures are aesthetic, immersive experiences – fun and functional. Holler is adamant that sliding is a viable means of transport. I’m not sure about that, but if TM2 can have slides, tunnels and lifts that work I’ll be very happy indeed.
Thanks to Psycho Buildings thousands of people can now say that they have paddled in a boating lake on top of a building in the middle of London. That’s because the Austrian collective Gelitin have filled one of the Hayward’s outdoor sculpture terraces up to the brim with water and plonked in some home-made rowing boats.
This is me trying out one of Gelitin’s boats. The installation is titled ‘Normally, Proceeding and Unrestricted With Without Title’ 2008
What a surreal and disconcerting experience this is, not to mention spectacularly beautiful.
OK so slides, tunnels, lifts that work, a boating lake on the roof… what else would you add to a list of far-fetched ideas for TM2?
26 comments for "What’s your idea of a Psycho Building?"
Follow-up comment rss or leave a Trackback Please note this is a moderated board and there will be a delay before your comment is shown.What’s great about the Gelitin piece is it’s ‘productive failure’- You flounder about trying to row and eventually lose some of your inhibitions. Tate Modern’s galleries are all too rational, a stack of repeating racetracks. Anything that breaks that up would be a blessing, although I doubt TM2 will have the labyrinthine qualities of the British Museum or the V&A.
But as for far-fetched ideas- let’s let Gregor Schneider fill the place with blind alleys, tight corridors and sudden drops. And do what Iain Sinclair suggested for Tate Britain- bring the river right into the building. And after that, something along the lines of the Paris Commune?
i love the idea of buildihgs being art, architechture is not appreciated enough, instead of buildings bein buiot for convinience they should be built for imagination GO BUILDINGS!!!!!!!
i love buildings that are interesting and unusual, so they shoul be built to reflect this.,so build them!!
i think that the idea of a phycho building is good, it stops rectolinear buildings taking over the world.
i love it
I think it would be nice to see a building made of art in in London. Pretty cool if you think about it.
Well, maybe big art objects should not be pemanent? I mean at least those very conceptual ones…
i love them. thy are beautiful and fascinating. who said art couldnt be functional?
i think it is great
I like it. A little. Not that much. Its okay.
my definate favourite is the slide i wanna go !
beautifull…..
i like the idea of the slide. i think it is an immediate eye catcher. love anything like that
we think that the slide looked immese and wish we could have gone on it
PEACE
oh my god
we love the tate modern
espeially the huge slide
is it still here
we love it
please bring it back
love u
Maybe someday I will record an EP, and surely I would like to associate psychic videos made in psychic architectures to my songs. Adieu!
i think its rubbish.
today i had gret fun at the tate modern…
i love this country….god save the queen..(just kiddin)
the art is very eye catching and some are very peculiar!!!!
It’s a fantastisc museum
;)THE TATE IS UE BEST
THE TATE IS THE 1st museum of the world
i think that there is a reason if this type of art is called psycho…..modern art sucks at all….
We thougt the slide was pretty awesome :]
ja chci psycho building…. me to znervoznuje !!!!!!!
[...] the original post on The Great Tate Mod Blog You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and [...]
Leave a comment