James Turrell’s Roden Crater Set to Open In a Few Years
newsdepo.com
Celebrated American light and space artist James Turrell’s most anticipated and significant work — Roden Crater — is set to open in the next few years. A series of partnerships and new funding, including a $10 million donation from Kanye West, havJames Turrell’s Roden Crater Set to Open In a Few Years
Celebrated American light and space artist James Turrell’s most anticipated and significant work — Roden Crater — is set to open in the next few years. A series of partnerships and new funding, including a $10 million donation from Kanye West, have made it possible for the project to see the light of the day soon. Located in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona, the project has been under construction for the last 45 years.“In this stage set of geologic time, I wanted to make spaces that engage celestial events in light so that the spaces perform a ‘music of the spheres’ in light,” says James Turrell.According to James Turrell’s website, the artist took inspiration for Roden Crater from Tycho Brahe, the great astronomer who pioneered “naked eye observatories,” and the 18th century Jantar Mantar in Jaipur, among other monuments. He has consulted with renowned astronomers including E.C. Krupp, Director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, and the late Richard Walker, an astronomer with the US Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, for the planning and construction of Roden Crater.“Roden Crater is a controlled environment for the experiencing and contemplation of light. It takes its place within the tradition of American landscape art that began in the 1960s, requiring a journey to visit the work in the remote desert with truly dark night skies. While minimally invasive to the external natural landscape, internally the red and black cinder has been transformed into special engineered spaces where the cycles of geologic and celestial time can be directly experienced. It will constitute a truly culminating phenomenon in world art,” according to James Turrell’s website.The first major phase of construction included the movement of over 1.3 million cubic yards of earth to shape the Crater Bowl and the construction of the 854’ East Tunnel. Six spaces were completed, including two of the most difficult, the shaping of the Crater Bowl and the Alpha (East) Tunnel. When complete, the project will contain 21 viewing spaces and six tunnels, according to the website.Roden Crater is currently under construction and closed to the public. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more