James Turrell Reveals Plans for Massive 'Cosmic Observatories' in AlUla Desert
The large-scale installation will also serve as a museum for the artist’s most iconic works.
Light and Space luminary James Turrell has revealed plans for a monumental land artwork in the desert of AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Ahead of his commission for Wadi AlFann – an open-air museum whose title translates to “Valley of the Arts” – a new exhibition chronicles his journey as a pioneering artist and offers a first look at his upcoming installation.
With construction set to start within the next four years, the untitled work draws inspiration from the purity of light and striking landscape in the desert. Upon visiting the site in 2020, Turrell found that the sandstone formations recalled his ongoing work at Roden Crater in Northern Arizona. “I was very familiar with that kind of landscape and strangely felt at home with doing work there,” he explained.
Through a sequence of vast pathways, tunnels, chambers and staircases in the canyon floor, viewers will navigate under and out of the earth, moving between caverns of light and darkness. The structure will comprise of two large and two small “Skyspaces” – outdoor subterranean oculi which will serve as “cosmic observatories,” that “challenge perceptions of celestial light,” lead curator Iwona Blazwick told designboom.
Above ground, the installation unfolds into a “planetary diagram” carved into the surrounding sandstone cliffs, creating a dialogue between land and sky. Together, the spaces revel Turrell’s philosophy of the ‘thingness of light’ – perceptual play where the vastness of the universe reveals itself through the nature of light.
The exhibition will also offer a showcase of Turrell’s works, including highlights such as his 1968 cross-corner projection work, Alta, which transforms the dim corner of a room into a luminous pink-violet pyramid, and the hypnotic splendor of more recent, circular works like “Jubilee” (2021) from his Glassworks series.
Turrell is accompanied by Manal AlDowayan, Agnes Denes, Michael Heizer and Ahmed Mater as one of five artists who were tapped to create permanent land artworks. Spanning 64 square kilometers (around 40 square miles) across the desert expanse, Wadi AlFann marks a major resurgence of Land Art in the Kingdom, pairing leading voices with the next generation of Saudi Arabian artists.
Wadi AlFann presents James Turrell takes part in the AlUla Arts Festival, which runs until February 22 in the AlJadidah Arts District, and will remain on view until April 19, 2025
