Schizophrenia and the Tate Slides

Schizophrenia, it seems, has suffered a bad case of semantic bloat. Scientists have decided that the term has expanded to cover so many symptoms that it is now largely meaningless and its use is interfering with the treatment of mental illness. Meanwhile, over at Tate Modern, huge slides have been installed in the Turbine Hall. A Tate curator says, yes, they are fun, but also they are art because they are beautiful. The artist responsible, Carsten Holler, says they can help mental health problems, being particularly useful in relieving stress. Semantic bloat is becoming convergent and circular. Art can be fun, therefore it can be a fairground ride and can also help with mental health problems which, it now seems, have become all but indefinable, like art. It's a small world conceptually, but you wouldn't want to paint it.