Carsten Höller has conceived his practice as a kind of laboratory for the investigation of a diverse range of subjects, including sensory perception, transportation, sexuality, and psychedelic intoxication. Though he has a rigorous scientific background, including a doctorate in insect communication, he has flipped the values of science on their head, prioritizing the act of questioning over the collection of results. With his New Museum exhibition, “Experience,” Höller’s laboratory has been given physical form, as visitors encounter four floors of open-ended experiments that challenge their most fundamental existential assumptions.

This interdisciplinary panel features experts from a range of fields who will speak to the kinds of questions Höller’s work raises for their own research. Panelists include Ken Johnson (art critic, New York Times and author of Are You Experienced?: How Psychedelic Consciousness Transformed Modern Art), Spyridon Papapetros (assistant professor of the history and theory of architecture, Princeton University School of Architecture), and Jesse Prinz (distinguished professor of philosophy, City University of New York, Graduate Center). The discussion will be moderated by art historian, Matthew Levy (doctoral candidate, New York University).