Florence, Carsten Höller's mega slides at Palazzo Strozzi will investigate visitors' emotions

In Florence, a unique project is scheduled to take place at Palazzo Strozzi: it is The Florence Experiment, the site-specific project by celebrated German artist Carsten Höller and plant neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso. The Florence Experiment is an innovative experiment aimed at studying the interaction between humans and plants and will go through the installation of two monumental slides in the courtyard of the Palazzo, and a special science laboratory in the Strozzina, connected to the facade of Palazzo Strozzi.

The moments of the experiment will be two: the descent through the mega-slide, from a height of twenty meters, and the access to two special movie theaters where films will be projected, by surprise, that will arouse different emotions (excitement, fun, fear) in the visitors. The experiment is to be used to compare participants’ emotions with the reactions of different types of plants so as to study empathy between plants and humans.

Carsten Höller, before becoming an internationally renowned artist, was an entomology researcher with a doctorate in phytopathology, and in his art there is this reflection involving science, technology and public participation. The project is being conducted in collaboration with Stefano Mancuso, one of the founders of the discipline of plant neurobiology, a science that studies the ’intelligence of plants, analyzed as complex beings endowed with extraordinary sensitivity, able to communicate with the external environment through the chemical compounds they can perceive and emit.

The exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi runs from April 19 to August 26, with hours 10 a.m.-8 p.m., daily, including holidays, and Thursdays until 11 p.m. For more information, you can visit the official Palazzo Strozzi website.

Pictured: the rendering of Carsen Höller’s two mega slides.

Florence, Carsten Höller's mega slides at Palazzo Strozzi will investigate visitors' emotions

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