carsten höller brings people together through four giant slides in mexico city

CARSTEN HÖLLER MAKES PLAY PART OF MEXICO CITY’S ARCHITECTURE

Carsten Höller transforms movement through architecture into a collective experience with Mexico City Slides (2026), a permanent installation of four monumental spiral slides at Arte Abierto Polanco in Mexico City. Commissioned by Arte Abierto and developer SOMA in collaboration with architecture practice Sordo Madaleno, the work forms part of Antara’s latest expansion in Colonia Granada. Höller’s sculpture weaves through the mixed-use development, connecting restaurants, Google’s offices, the future Rosewood Mexico City hotel, and Arte Abierto’s new cultural venue through an unexpected invitation to slide.

Ranging from 12 to 38 meters in height and 31 to 90 meters in length, the four structures descend from different points across the complex before converging at a shared landing area. Each slide accommodates one person, allowing four visitors to descend simultaneously and arrive alongside one another. The installation is accessible to the public free of charge and is scheduled to open in December 2026.

Visitors arriving from restaurants, workplaces, and hospitality spaces enter the same physical experience, temporarily setting aside the social and functional distinctions attached to these environments. Höller describes this encounter as an equalizing gesture. Regardless of where people begin, they end up next to one another. Even for those who choose not to ride, the slides introduce an unusual spectacle into the development.

FROM PLAYFUL OBJECT TO ARCHITECTURAL EXPERIENCE

Höller has been working with slides as an artistic medium since 1998, exploring how an object usually associated with playgrounds can become part of an architectural setting. The Belgian artist describes them as ‘a sculpture with people inside’. The experience is as much about the physical sensations of sliding as it is about the structure itself.

Over the years, this idea has taken different forms. His projects include Test Site (2006) at Tate Modern in London, Victoria Slide (2011) at the New Museum in New York, Vitra Slide Tower (2014) at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, and Isometric Slides (2015) at the Hayward Gallery in London. He continued the series with Florence Experiment Slides (2018) at Palazzo Strozzi, DAC Slide (2020) at the Danish Architecture Centre, and another iteration of Isometric Slides (2021) at the Luma Foundation in Arles. More recently, Stockholm Slides (2025) became a permanent feature of Moderna Museet’s facade. In Mexico City, four slides bring this ongoing exploration into a larger architectural setting, connecting different parts of Antara through this shared experience.

THE anatomy OF A CONTROLLED FALL

For Höller, sliding is about more than the thrill of speed. The moment of descent brings together fear, excitement, and pleasure, as riders briefly give themselves over to gravity. He describes the sensation as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’, borrowing the phrase from sociologist Roger Caillois. There is a certain contradiction in the experience: the slide is a controlled structure, yet the feeling of losing control is what makes the ride exciting.

In Mexico City Slides, four people can set off from different parts of Antara and arrive at the same landing area, turning the ride into a shared experience. For a brief moment, people coming from a restaurant, an office, or a hotel find themselves side by side, brought together by something as simple as taking a slide.

ART AND PUBLIC SPACE WITHIN ANTARA’S EXPANSION

The installation forms part of a wider transformation of Antara, which marks its twentieth anniversary in 2026. Originally developed by SOMA on a former industrial site in Colonia Granada, the destination opened in 2006 as Mexico City’s first open-air retail complex. Its latest expansion introduces additional retail and dining spaces, offices, a new public garden, and a cultural program led by Arte Abierto, SOMA’s nonprofit contemporary art foundation established in 2019.

Designed by Sordo Madaleno, the expanded development brings together landscaped pathways, stepped terraces, and a 2,500-square-meter public garden, connecting its different functions through new pedestrian spaces. The wider program also includes Now What (2026), an exhibition by Danish artist collective SUPERFLEX, which examines the relationship between human-made environments and natural forces.

project info:

name: Mexico City Slides
artist: Carsten Höller | @carsten.holler

location: Arte Abierto Polanco, Antara, Mexico City, Mexico

commissioned by: Arte Abierto | @arte_abierto and SOMA
architectural collaboration: Sordo Madaleno