James Turrell

A Turrell Projection is created by projecting a single, controlled beam of light from the opposing corner of the room.

A Turrell Shallow Space is viewed from the rear of a large room in which controlled lighting challenges the viewer’s depth perception.

A Turrell Corner Shallow Space is created in a convex corner; the light creates an illusion of a three dimensional object.

In a Turrell Wedgework, the use of projected light creates an illusion of walls or barriers.

A Turrell Veil combines the use of natural and artificial light to create a slowly changing curtain, or veil, of light.

A Turrell Dark Space is an enclosed room with no seemingly perceivable light. The concept of a Dark Space is not about what one is supposed to see but the experience of what Turrell describes as “seeing yourself see.”

A Turrell Space Division (also called an ‘Aperture’ work) consists of a large, horizontal aperture which appears to be a flat painting or an LED screen but is a light-emitting opening to a seemingly infinite, light filled room beyond.

Turrell creates a similar experience of “Ganzfeld”: a German word to describe the phenomenon of the total loss of depth perception as in the experience of a white-out.

A Turrell Skyspace is a specifically proportioned chamber with an aperture in the ceiling open to the sky. Skyspaces can be autonomous structures or integrated into existing architecture. The aperture can be round, ovular or square.

Turrell’s Perceptual Cells Series are enclosed, autonomous spaces built specifically for one person at a time, in which one’s perception of space is challenged by light.

A Turrell Magnatron consists of a small aperture in the shape of an old television screen.

A Turrell Tall Glass or Wide Glass piece is an aperture witihin which LEDs are programmed to change slowly over the course of several hours.

A hologram is a recording of light waves on a thin layer of transparent gelatin emulsion. In the emulsion is an image that has full parallax. In other words, it appears to have depth from every vantage point. Unlike traditional holograms that depict objects, the Turrell holograms aim to make a hologram of light itself.