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Architecture is often defined by its physical form, materials, and structural elements, but light and shadow truly shape the experience of space. These elements influence perception, guide movement, and evoke emotional responses, transforming static structures into dynamic environments. Throughout history, architects have harnessed the interplay of light and shadow, using it as a fundamental design tool to create atmosphere and meaning.
The AlUla Arts Festival, running from January 16th to February 22nd, 2025, features a significant exhibition of works by renowned Light and Space artist James Turrell. Presented by Wadi AlFann, the exhibition, curated by Michael Govan of LACMA, offers a unique preview of Turrell's upcoming monumental commission for Wadi AlFann, a sprawling contemporary art destination in the AlUla region of north-west Saudi Arabia. The exhibition, located in AlJadidah Arts District within AlUla's historic old town, provides context for Turrell's ambitious project, which will involve the creation of a series of chambers within the canyon floor, designed to create a sensory experience of light, color, and perception.
Light has been present in art for centuries. To think of the Baroque or Gothic without this element would be impossible. However, in the 20th century, artists began to explore light qualities and transformed them into a means of materializing art. Sculptures, immersive installations, and ways of shaping the environment through light, its colors and intensities brought new spatial perceptions by establishing a unique relationship with architecture.
Luis Barragán’s legacy lies in the way he uses light and color. Tadao Ando's sensitive approach to natural light established his own architectural language. James Turrell's dramatic interior transformations explore a unique perception of visual experiences where "light is not a tool to enable vision but rather something to look at itself". Olafur Eliasson's immersive installations play with the psychology of viewers using just light, water, and air. These architects and designers, among others, have reimagined how light is perceived, inspiring generations of architects to follow suit with the way they understand and employ light.
The new cultural destination Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts in AlUla desert, Saudi Arabia, unveiled its first permanent large-scale installations by some of the world's most compelling contemporary artists. Agnes Denes, Ahmed Mater, James Turrell, Manal AlDowayan, and Michael Heizer will be the first five to be completed and unveiled by 2024, starting a program of commissions with more renowned artists to be announced.
The site, a vast valley spanning approximately 39 square kilometers with a millennial legacy, aims to become the new global cultural destination for contemporary art, contemplating another 15-20 artworks by 2035. The plan builds upon the success of two editions of the international art exhibition Desert X AlUla, in 2020 and most recently the 2022 edition, featuring work by Ayman Zedani, Jim Denevan, and Zeinab Al Hashemi.
American light and space artist James Turrell's best-known work, Roden Crater, is now set to open to the public within the next few years thanks to a series of partnerships and new funding. Part of the additional funds includes a $10 million donation from Kanye West that would allow the project to expand and open within the next five years. Only a small group of people have experienced the crater, and the new funding will jump-start the updated master plan, which includes a restaurant, visitor’s center, cabins, and a "light-spa."
New details have been revealed of the €40 million extension of ARoS Art Museum in Aarhus, Denmark. Designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects in collaboration with artist James Turrell, the expansion project includes a new 1,400-square-meter (15,070-square-foot) underground gallery and two site-specific installations by Turrell that represent his largest museum project to date.
Named The Next Level, the project begins on the ground level of the museum, extending downward beneath the adjacent Officerspladsen plaza. The addition has been designed to work naturally with the flow of the existing building, which already serves as a bridge between the Aarhus River and the nearby Aarhus Music Hall. A 120-meter-long hallway will stretch down into the Earth connecting visitors the larger of the two Turrell installations, The Dome.
With the aim of creating a new civic experience at a central point in the city of Aarhus, Denmark, the 'Next Level' project by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects expands the interior capacity of the ARoS Art Museum through a 1,200 square meter subterranean gallery and a huge semi-subterranean dome. The €40 million expansion plan was born from a collaboration with renowned American artist James Turrell, generating a unique experience of color and light.
The horizontal underground space will extend 120 meters below the surface, allowing the visitors to pass through a string of galleries and exhibition spaces before arriving at the Dome. "With its 40 meter diameter, the Dome will form one of the most spectacular spaces ever built into an art museum," explain the architects.
schmidt hammer lassen architects has been commissioned to expand their ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark. The architects are expected to collaborate with American artist James Turrell, who will be designing two installations for the expansion's 1200-square-meter subterranean gallery: "The Sphere" and "The Dome." The €30 million expansion is being referred to as "The Next Level," symbolizing the museum's intent to "bring the museum into the world elite of modern art museums." The museum recently embarked on a similar collaboration that involved artist Olafur Eliasson, who designed "Your Rainbow Panorama."
On the occasion of James Turrell's new site-specific installation at the Guggenheim, the American artist joined Michael Govan, Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and co-curator of James Turrell: A Retrospective, in conversation about the different aspects of the artist's singular oeuvre on view in three concurrent exhibitions in Houston, Los Angeles, and New York.
With one of his largest installations to date, American artist James Turrell has transformed the rotunda of Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic Guggenheim Museum into a mesmerizing Skyspace. Shifting between natural and artificial light, Aten Reign - James Turrell’s main attraction - illuminates the central void with a brightly colored, banded pattern that imitates the museum’s famous ramps. This presents a dynamic perceptual experience in which the materiality of light is exposed.
More images of the luminous and immersive Skyspace after the break.
Light matters, a monthly column on light and space, is written by Thomas Schielke. Based in Germany, he is fascinated by architectural lighting, has published numerous articles and co-authored the book „Light Perspectives“.
From early nocturnal studies in a lonely hotel room to transforming a volcano in the world’s biggest landscape art project to, most recently, lighting up the Guggenheim in New York, the American artist James Turrell is driven by his fascination with light. He explores perception for visual experiences where light is not a tool to enable vision but rather something to look at itself.
More Light Matters, after the break…
With his first exhibition in a New York museum since 1980, James Turrell will dramatically transform the sinuous curves of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum into one of the largest Skyspaces he has ever mounted. Opening on summer solstice, June 21, 2013, Aten Reign will give form museum’s central void by creating what Turrell has described as “an architecture of space created with light.”
The highly anticipated “Twilight Epiphany” Skyspace, designed by American artist James Turrell, will open to the public today with a sunset light show. The abstract pyramidal structure complements the natural light present at sunrise and sunset, creating a mesmerizing light show that connects the beauty of the natural world with the surrounding campus. This experience is enhanced by an LED light performance that projects onto the 72-by-72-foot thin white roof, which offers views to the sky through a 14-by-14-foot opening. Additionally, the Turrell Skyspace is acoustically engineered for musical performances and serves as a laboratory for music school students, as it stands adjacent to the Shepher School of Music on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas.
David Leebron, Rice University President: “The campus has to play its role in inspiring our students.”
Continue after the break to watch a sneak preview of the Turrell Skyspace light show.
If you are in the San Diego area and looking for something to do this weekend, check out the Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. It is your last chance to experience the exhibit at the museum’s La Jolla location, as it will be closing this Sunday, January 22. However, the exhibit will remain open to the public at its downtown location in San Diego into spring and summer.
More after the break.
