Since the 1960s, James Turrell has been a pioneer of what he describes as “perceptual art,” exploring the dynamics of light, space, scale, and human feeling in a wide range of installations. His magnum opus, “Roden Crater,” has been in progress since 1977 in an extinct volcanic cinder cone near Flagstaff, Arizona. When completed, it will contain six tunnels into the crater bowl and two dozen viewing areas.
Since the mid-1970s, Turrell has also been known for an ongoing series of site-specific installations known as Skyspaces. They take many forms, from standalone domed constructions to apertures installed in the ceilings of museums. From MASS MoCA to a destination fishing village in Uruguay to a Quaker meeting house in Houston, the artist’s immersive spaces invite viewers to not only experience but inhabit a unique convergence of light, architecture, and the celestial realm.
Skyspace comprises dozens of the installations around the world. The newest, titled “As Seen Below,” was recently unveiled at ARoS in Aarhus, Denmark. Its expansive interior includes a dome, which is bathed in light that changes color, punctuated with an oculus at its zenith. The circular window lets in a view of the sky, which interacts with the interior hues at varying times of day and during different types of weather. At more than 50 feet high and 130 feet across, it’s the largest Skyspace work Turrell has created within a museum context.
“Turrell’s precisely calibrated light bathes the space in colour and makes the opening to the sky appear both boundless and close,” the museum says. Visitors arrive via a subterranean corridor, which leads to the spacious hall. Benches line the periphery, and viewers can wander around a broad floor to experience different vantage points.
“With ‘As Seen Below,’ I’m shaping the experience of seeing rather than delivering an image,” Turrell says in a statement. “The architecture holds the sky close, so you recognise that the act of looking is the work itself. Here light isn’t description; it’s the substance you stand within. In this Skyspace, the day has weight, the evening has temperature, and the change belongs to you.”
“As Seen Below” will open to the public on June 19.
