Among the topics we have explored lately, we have spoken about the recent evolution of Landscape Art, with a specific focus on the birth of Land Art and its protagonists. Between famous names as Christo, Jeanne-Claude or Richard Long, we also mentioned the input of James Turrell into the genre. Known mostly as a “light artist”, Turell has recently been involved on the creation of a site-specific project for the private association Horizon Field - Kunstverein Vorarlberg in Austria.
James Turrell (Los Angeles, 1943) explored Lech in September 2014 and he was clearly fascinated by the mountain landscape. His visit was an initiative organised by the private association "Horizon Field", which was founded by the British artist Anthony Gormley in connection with the eponymous land art project.
Discover more about James Turell's installations... read the article James Turrell - Roden Crater on Kooness!
Just a few words about Horizon Field: it is a company that promotes cultural projects and initiatives for the Vorarlberg region, developed by the architects of the Austrian firm Baumschlager Eberle of Lustenau, in close collaboration with the Zumtobel Group for lighting LED solutions. If you want to explore deeper into the artistic medium of light, don't miss our aticle dedicated to the latest Bruce Nauman exhibition's at MoMA in New York.
Austria, Vorarlberg. James Turrell, “Skyspace Lech” (Courtesy: James Turrell – Photo: Florian Holzherr)
For this new work by the American artist, Zumtobel proposed a "custom" solution capable of characterising a space - on the outside, an essential elliptical metal dome and a natural stone construction and an articulated building inside which one can access through an underground tunnel - able to express an accurate palette of colors that actively accompany the sensory perception of visitors.
My works are not about light, they are light...
(James Turell)
The tunnel was carefully designed to be aligned with Mount Biberkopf, according to Turrell's indications, as during the summer solstice the sun's rays reach the so-called "Sensing Room", the perception chamber, where a series of elliptic openings realized in the ceiling give views of the Arlberg sky. In "Skyspace Lech" the light artist gave a further proof of his approach to the relationship between light and space in line with the concept of a "Ganzfeldraum", or "open field space" that finds its perceptual "climax" when the dome is closed and the visual field does not allow any orientation for its perfect uniformity. Sensitively integrated into the landscape, the Skyspace-Lech is a fascinating example of public art in an alpine cultural landscape.
We recently spoke about another fantastic exhibition in Austria, read more on this article: Fascination Japan: Monet, Van Gogh, Klimt" at Kunstforum Wien!
James Turrell drew on his experience of the place and his preoccupation with the art of light to create this composition, which provides visitors with an exceptional visual perception and a profound experience of light, time and space. Light and space are the main focus of many contemporary artists, see more on Kooness about Landscape Art and Light-box & Neon Sculpture.
Zumtobel has supported these expressive needs through an amber colored LED strip with RGB color change function and a "Tunable White" LED strip with adjustable dynamic white light, programming the lighting of the spaces in close coordination with James Turrell, while a DMX control system of Luxmate manages the dynamic lighting control.