Were you moved? Carsten Höller's Test Site. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP.
Whoosh! Judder-judder-judder whoosh-thump ... Carsten Höller's new installation, Test Site, in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall (aka the new slides everyone's talking about) is a real laugh. The five slides, the tallest with a 27-metre drop, open today, and surely must top the list for the best free fun and most idiotic natural high available in London.
It was fascinating at the private view on Monday morning watching the malassorted ladies and gentlemen of the press gather round the sculptures sceptically, like kids confronted with a challenging new piece of playground equipment, then gradually, one by one, take it upon themselves to leave their dignity behind and launch themselves down a steel-and-plastic chute.
After that, it quickly became competitive, and conversations started to go something like this:
Journalist A: "Which ones have you done?"
Journalist B: "The tallest one of course."
A: "Well, you know the second-tallest one is actually the steepest and scariest..."
Et cetera. As it happens it probably doesn't take that much to turn a journalist into a giggling eight-year-old. And yet I suspect we will not be alone. I think everyone's going to become addicted to this wonderful silliness (which has its serious side too, of course).
Mind you, a few people have already been mentioning the odd bruise or sore backside, and what nobody seemed to want to answer at yesterday's press conference was the question, "Has anyone ever been injured on one of Höller's slides?" (though the Tate did emphasise all the safety checks the piece had undergone).
So, when you've had a go on the slides, tell us what you think of the experience - good, or bad.
