With a background in science and biology, the practice of Carsten Höller takes as its point of departure the relationships between humans and nature. Working across a wide range of media and disciplines, his practice reimagines the experience of space and art, creating situations that question established forms of perception through means of active participation.

- Snowflake (Model 1, large), 2000-2003
is a model of a large snowflake made from glass and what the artist defines as "unspecified chemicals". Its scale and material, characteristic of its sharp and shiny edges, contradict the represented object. A snowflake distinctive for its fragile and ephemeral nature appropriates instead the treacherous features of ice, reminiscent of sharp knives, a formal metaphor on the dangers of psychotropic substances, which infuse the work and point to the possibilities of experience alterations, resulting in the distortion of traditional cognitive processes. Höller rejects here conventional notions of the art object as a static form and instead invites the spectator to interact with the work by creating a heightened sense of contamination awareness. With that in mind, the approach of the spectator towards the art object is shifted, from object to oneself as the subject. The uncertainty of becoming affected by the chemicals results in unavoidable self-observation, which in the process of the work's perception becomes central to the work. Snowflake is a conceptual play of doubt, perplexity, and uncertainty, questioning the ways art can affect us and the modes by which art can be consumed.



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