Carsten Höller: Two

UCCA Center for Contemporary Art · UCCA Great Hall · Beijing · –

Key facts

GUAN makes in-depth guides to time-limited special exhibitions: each selected work has commentary and audio in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and English, and every key fact cites its source.

Dates
Jul 14, 2026 to Jan 31, 2027
Venue
UCCA Center for Contemporary Art · Chaoyang · Beijing
GUAN guide
12 selected works with text and audio in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and English; free
Highlights
Participatory installations use play and perceptual experiments to explore doubling, time, dreams and shared experience.

Participatory installations use play and perceptual experiments to explore doubling, time, dreams and shared experience.

In-depth audio guide

Plan your visit

Closed during the exhibition
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Check the museum’s current opening, ticketing and reservation arrangements before visiting. Normally open Tuesday–Sunday. Holiday opening on October 5, 2026 has not been verified; confirm with UCCA before visiting. Dated closures for 2027 await confirmation of holiday arrangements; check the official schedule before a 2027 visit.

Works (12)

  1. 1. Beijing Dots Carsten Höller · Projectors, lasers, software · 2026 · Courtesy the artist, produced with support from UCCA Center for Contemporary Art — The dots on the floor are waiting for a second player. Alone, the game will not run.
  2. 2. Giant Triple Mushroom Carsten Höller · Fly agaric - Fliegenpilz - Amanita muscaria / Long Net Stinkhorn - Brautschleier Pilz - Phallus indusiatus / Dove-coloured Tricholoma - Seidiger Ritterling – Tricholoma columbetta; aluminum, steel, automotive paint · 2024 · Courtesy the artist and Gagosian — This mushroom, about three metres tall, is really three mushrooms put together.
  3. 3. Dice (Chinese Marble) Carsten Höller · Marble · 2026 · Courtesy the artist, produced with support from UCCA Center for Contemporary Art — A die blown up to room size, its dots turned into holes you can climb through.
  4. 4. Pill Clock (Red and Yellow Pills) Carsten Höller · Gelatin capsules filled with undescribed substance, mechanical drop mechanism, control unit, water dispenser · 2026 · Courtesy the artist, produced with support from UCCA Center for Contemporary Art — Every three seconds, another capsule drops to the floor.
  5. 11. Smell of My Mother Carsten Höller · Solution with reconstructed smell in diffuser under exhibition bench · 2017 · Courtesy the artist — Sit down. What drifts up from under the bench is the smell of the artist's mother.
  6. 6. Tilted Carousel (Five Colours) Carsten Höller · Steel structure, motor, electronic components, light bulbs, painted steel · 2026 · Courtesy the artist, produced with support from UCCA Center for Contemporary Art — A swing carousel so slow it barely seems to move. Once you sit down, you ride a full turn.
  7. 8. Decimal Clock (Salmon Rose and Novial Gold) Carsten Höller · Neon tubes, metal structure, control unit · 2021 · Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua — A day of ten hours: this clock runs on French Revolutionary time.
  8. 10. “Divisions” series (10A–10J) Carsten Höller · Caravaggio linen canvas, Flashe vinyl paint (ten works) · 2018–2026 · Courtesy the artist — One canvas, halved, then halved again, and again.
  9. 16. Spinning Amanita (Black and White) Carsten Höller · Fly agaric replica, paint, motor, steel, battery, control units, solar panels · 2026 · Courtesy the artist — Spin a black-and-white mushroom fast enough and colour appears in your eyes.
  10. 18. Light Wall Carsten Höller · Light bulbs, control unit, dimmer pack, sound, wooden structural elements; edition of 5 + 2 artist proofs (#5/5) · 2000/2026 · Courtesy the artist — A wall of nothing but white bulbs, yet close your eyes and you see colour.
  11. 20. Sluice Valia Fetisov and Carsten Höller · Glass sliding door mechanisms, motion sensors and electronics, custom software · 2026 · Courtesy the artists, produced with support from UCCA Center for Contemporary Art — Want to get out? Stand perfectly still for thirty seconds.
  12. 21. Twins (Tokyo, New York, Paris, Santiago, Vienna, Belgium, London, Milan, Santander, Beijing) Carsten Höller · Two-channel video loop, black and white, color, sound; duration 20 min · 2005–2018 · Courtesy the artist and ShugoArts, Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, and Galleria Continua — A pair of twins, two statements that contradict each other. Which one is true?

Questions

Is there an audio guide for Carsten Höller: Two?

Yes. GUAN selected 12 works from the exhibition, each with text and audio in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and English. All of it is free.

When is Carsten Höller: Two on?

Jul 14, 2026 to Jan 31, 2027.

Official website

Sources for this page

On now and opening soon in Beijing