carsten höller's hotel room installation stimulates targeted dreams at fondation beyeler

Fondation Beyeler and LUMA present summer show for 2024

During Art Basel 2024, the Fondation Beyeler in partnership with the LUMA Foundation, present a summer show conceived as a ‘living organism’ in continual metamorphosis, transforming the entire museum and its surrounding park into an experimental presentation of contemporary art. The exhibition titled Dance with Daemons, features a variety of renowned names including Belgian artist Carsten Höller who has collaborated with scientist Adam Haar Horowitz to compose a dream hotel room. Dream Hotel Room 1: Dreaming of Flying with Flying Fly Agarics (2024), made in collaboration with scientist Adam Haar Horowitz, comprises a bed that rocks participants into sleep and a rotating mushroom replica designed to stimulate targeted dream content.

Carsten Höller, Dream Hotel Room 1: Dreaming of Flying with Flying Fly Agarics, 2024, installation view, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel © Carsten Höller. Photo: Mark Niederman, courtesy Fondation Beyeler

a robotic dream bed by Carsten Höller and Adam Haar Horowitz

The robotic Dream Bed by Carsten Höller and Adam Haar Horowitz at Fondation Beyeler (find more here) is designed to enhance and interact with the sleep and dream experiences of its users. Equipped with sensors embedded in the mattress, it monitors the sleeper’s heart rate, breathing, and movements to detect various sleep stages and the intensity of dreams. Although these physiological readings are not recorded, they are used to synchronize the bed’s movements with the sleeper’s current sleep phase. As part of the immersive experience, a redly gleaming reproduction of a mushroom rotates above the bed, creating a visually stimulating environment as the visitor falls asleep and wakes up. This combination of sensory inputs aims to enrich the dream experience.

During the exhibition, the Dream Bed is part of the Dream Hotel Room, where visitors have the opportunity to sleep in the bed and engage with the artwork on a deeply personal level. Additionally, once a week, from Friday to Saturday, it is possible to spend an entire night in the Dream Bed, allowing for an extended and potentially more profound interaction with the piece.

Carsten Höller, Dream Hotel Room 1: Dreaming of Flying with Flying Fly Agarics, 2024, installation view, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel © Carsten Höller. Photo: Mark Niederman, courtesy Fondation Beyeler

A Living Organism: Transforming the Fondation Beyeler

For the first time in the 25-year history of Fondation Beyeler, the entire museum and its surrounding park are transformed into the site of an experimental exhibition of contemporary art. Organized by the Fondation Beyeler in collaboration with the LUMA Foundation, the exhibition brings together works by 30 participants from varied backgrounds and disciplines. Among them Federico Campagna, Marlene Dumas, Frida Escobedo, Carsten Höller with Adam Haar, Pierre Huyghe, and many more.

The exhibition is conceived as a living organism, constantly changing and evolving. Participants, who include artists, poets, architects, musicians, composers, philosophers, and scientists, were invited to contribute their ideas and perspectives at every phase of the exhibition’s development—from conception and elaboration to production and presentation. This collaborative approach has led to a dynamic and multifaceted experience, transforming not only the gallery spaces but also ancillary areas such as the ticket desk, cloakroom, shop, winter garden, terrasses, and park. Visitors to the exhibition can rediscover the museum’s spaces in novel and unexpected ways and explore previously unfamiliar areas. The experience within any given space will vary over time, with different activities such as exhibition displays, social interactions, performances, concerts, poetry readings, talks, and community events overlapping.

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Philippe Parreno, Membrane, 2023, cybernetic structure with sensorimotor capabilities and generative language processing; courtesy of the artist © Philippe Parreno; Fujiko Nakaya, Untitled, 2024, Potable water, 600 Meefog nozzles, High pressure pump motor system, Courtesy of the artist, © Fujiko Nakaya. photo: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Fujiko Nakaya, Untitled, 2024, Potable water, 600 Meefog nozzles, High pressure pump motor system; Precious Okoyomon, the sun eats her children, 2024, flowers, butterflies and sound, Courtesy of the artists © Fujiko Nakaya; Precious Okoyomon photo: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Untitled (nuage), 2024. LED screen, courtesy of the artist © Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster photo: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Fujiko Nakaya, Untitled, 2024, Potable water, 600 Meefog nozzles, High pressure pump motor system, Courtesy of the artist, © Fujiko Nakaya photo: Stefan Bohrer

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Precious Okoyomon, the sun eats her children, 2024 Flowers, butterflies and sound courtesy of the artist © Precious Okoyomon photo: Stefan Bohrer

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Federico Campagna und Frida Escobedo A library as big as a world, 2023 courtesy of the artists photo: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024 collection on the Move © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.; 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich, photo: Stefan Bohrer

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Collection on the Move © Gerhard Richter; Marlene Dumas; 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich photo: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024 collection on the Move © Michael Armitage; Wolfgang Tillmans; 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich photo: Stefan Bohrer

1/6

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024 © Succession Alberto Giacometti; Estate of Jacques Lipchitz; 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich photo: Stefan Bohrer

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024 Koo Jeong A, Boolgasaeu Boolgasali, 2024 cast in bronze, dark patina unique edition + 1 AP © Koo Jeong A photo: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024 Adrián Villar Rojas, The End of Imagination VI, 2024 live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human and machine-made matter, courtesy the artist © Adrián Villar Rojas photo: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024 © 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich; Jeff Koons photo: Stefan Bohrer

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Carsten Höller, Pill Clock, 2015 Gelatine capsules, placebo, mechanical drop mechanism, control unit, water dispenser courtesy of the artist © Carsten Höller photo: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Precious Okoyomon, the sun eats her children, 2024 Flowers, butterflies and sound, courtesy of the artist © Precious Okoyomon photo: Mark Niedermann

project info: 

name: Dance with Daemons
location: Fondation Beyeler| @fondationbeyeler
dates: May 19th – August 11th, 2024