How to Find James Turrell's Art in the Most Unlikely Corners of the Earth

@archdigest
 on 2021.10.06
Multiple locations
12 Places
@archdigest
"Since the 1960s, James Turrell, the 75-year-old American artist who studied perceptual psychology, has been fixated on light and all the ways he can manipulate it with space and color. But the power of Turrell’s work—most often large-scale installations—is that it’s all about you, the viewer. The artist is best known for his Skyspaces, chambers open to the heavens through an aperture in the ceiling. These observatories—much like all of his work—are designed to be places of contemplative thought. From a meditation house deep in Japan’s countryside to a former mattress factory in Pittsburgh, AD uncovers the most unusual places around the world to see James Turrell’s art installations." By Kathleen Rellihan --- For the full guide, visit the link below.

Bodega y Estancia Colomé

Winery · Molinos

"In the world’s highest vineyard, there are endless halls of color, with nothing on the walls, no sculptures, just light: Welcome to the James Turrell Museum in Colomé, Argentina. The museum belongs to the Hess Art Collection, and houses art from the artist’s half-century career—a “time tunnel” of nine rooms devoted entirely to Turrell’s works."

Florian Holzherr / Copyright James Turrell / Courtesy of Grupo Colomé

"The power of James Turrell’s art is that it evokes and expands contemplative states within the viewer. So what could be a more fitting home for his art than a guesthouse for meditation deep within Japan’s rural western countryside? Guests can stay overnight at the House of Light, where Turrell has fused aspects of traditional Japanese architecture, aesthetics, and culture with his own play on light and shadows."

Florian Holzherr / Copyright James Turrell / Courtesy of House of Light

Jardín Botánico Culiacán

Botanical garden · Culiacán

"The city of Culiacán is known for its bloodred sunsets, but you’ll experience them in a whole new way from James Turrell’s Encounter, the first skyspace in Mexico, opened to the public in 2015. Located in the lush Botanical Gardens of Culiacan in Sinaloa, Mexico, this skyspace has a unique elliptical shape which, when viewed from above, resembles the shape of an eye."

Moritz Bernoully / Copyright James Turrell

Celestial Vault, James Turrell 1996

Sculpture · Ockenburgh

"Designing an artificial crater in the dunes of the Netherlands might have seemed like a daunting feat, but not for the master of light (and see below for Turrell’s most ambitious work yet within the Mother Nature–made Roden Crater). Built in 1996, James Turrell’s Celestial Vault is described not as a sculpture in the landscape, but as a tool to look at light and color. And this tool is expansive—30 meters wide and 40 meters long—creating an optical illusion of a domed sky."

Jannes Linders / Courtesy of Stroom Den Haag / Copyright James Turrell

Amanzoe

Hotel · Peloponnese

"A private Greek villa with your own 72-foot private heated pool, kitchen, terrace, reflection pool, and dedicated staff is pure luxury. But your own James Turrell skyspace? Amanzoe’s hilltop resort on Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula is home to Sky Plain, the first permanent James Turrell installation in the Mediterranean."

Courtesy of Aman Resorts / Copyright James Turrell

Hotel Castell

Hotel · Zuoz

"Built in 1913, this sanatorium-turned-art-hotel today offers an impressive collection of contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, permanent exhibitions, and regular “Art Weekends.” But Turrell’s skyspace Piz Utèr (2005) is what really draws in the art seekers to this castlelike estate. The rotunda stone skyspace showcases the changing mountain skies, best experienced in contemplative silence and taken with a dose of fresh Swiss Alps air."

"Far from the trappings of modern life, in a remote English village surrounded by thick woods, you can be fully immersed in nature—and a James Turrell light show. On the English border near Scotland lies the Kielder Forest Park, a 500-square-mile area of rugged forest, hiking trails, and large contemporary sculptures, including James Turrell’s Cat Cairn: The Kielder Skyspace."

Florian Holzherr / Copyright James Turrell /Courtesy of Kielder Water & Forest Park

Rice University

University · University Place

"On the grounds of Houston’s Rice University lies the otherworldly Twilight Epiphany, one of Turrell’s largest skyspaces in the world—it can seat up to 120 people on two levels. Just before sunrise and sunset an LED-light sequence is projected onto the pyramid pavilion’s 72-foot square roof and aperture in the ceiling, creating a light show that plays with the changing colors of the sky during dawn and twilight."

Florian Holzherr / Copyright James Turrell / Courtesy of Rice University

Mattress Factory

Art museum · Central North Side

"Housed in a former mattress warehouse built in 1900, Mattress Factory describes itself as a research and development lab for artists. Since 1983, the art space has shown 17 Turrell works, and it has three pieces on view: Danaë, Pleiades, and Big Red."

Florian Holzherr / Courtesy of the Mattress Factory / Copyright James Turrell

Ekebergparken

Park · Ekeberg

"In Norway, a country that is known for its surreal light shows from Mother Nature—both the Northern Lights and the midnight sun—it’s only fitting to experience art from the master of light himself. Ekebergparken’s Sculpture and National Heritage Park in Oslo is home to two of Turrell’s site-specific light installations—Ganzfeld: Double Vision (2013) and the skyspace The Color Beneath (2013)."

Florian Holzherr / Courtesy of Ekebergparken / Copyright James Turrell

Dorotheenstadt cemetery

Cemetery · Mitte

"If you want to "meet the light" among the final resting places of Germany’s intellectual elite—philosopher Friedrich Hegel and author Bertolt Brecht’s graves are here—head to Berlin’s Dorotheenstädtischer Cemetery chapel. Since 2015, this 20th-century chapel, renovated with a minimal, modern interior, has been illuminated by a light installation by James Turrell. Every evening from June through September you can take in a LED-light sequence beginning at sunset."

Mangtronix/Flickr

Roden Crater

Mountain peak · Coconino County

"For the last 40 years, on the edge of Arizona’s Painted Desert, James Turrell has been on a mission to capture the heavens on Earth with his magnum opus, Roden Crater. In 1977, Turrell acquired this two-mile-wide extinct volcano near Flagstaff, the city he calls home, and since then has been excavating tons of earth to carve viewing chambers and tunnels—transforming a volcanic cinder cone into a naked-eye observatory full of his signature light and space installations."