Intro
James Turrell has established an outstanding position within contemporary art with his artistic exploration of light, color, and space. With their roots in conceptual art, and in continuation of abstract painting, the light artist’s works are primarily oriented to the specific conditions of the site for which they were created. Depending on the location and the type of installation, the atmosphere of the sky, or differentiated artificial light in coordinated color scales, serve as the light source for his work.
With elaborate architectonic and technical installations, he creates immersive rooms out of light in which his works draw us in corporeally, allowing us to physically bathe in them. Turrell annuls horizons and optical limits in his work in such a manner that spatial orientation is virtually disabled.
For the Kunsthalle Mannheim, Turrell has adapted an earlier work created on-site, »Floating Window«, reconfiguring it to create a connection between the new building and the Jugendstil building in the form of a light room. In this atmospherically charged passage, wall-filling light sources on both sides illuminate the room in alternating color spectrums.
Transkription
Here is a room full of light. Colors are changing, outlines are fuzzy, only one large square is discernible. There are two levels from which we may look at the artwork. Take your time to let the impression sink in. Can you feel yourself immersing into the light, being almost physically swallowed by it?
James Turrell deals with light, color and space in his art. Using elaborate architectural and technical installations, he creates light spaces: horizons are gone, optical limits are lifted, rendering any orientation within time and space almost impossible.
With his installations, the US artist has achieved an outstanding position in contemporary art. Light plays a central role in his work. He thus continues a tradition in the history of art, where many painters rose to the challenge to capture light on canvas - whether baroque painter Rembrandt, Impressionist artist Claude Monet, or representatives of abstract painting such as Robert Delaunay.
Turrell’s approach is to set free light from canvas and to make it unfold within space, unbound by any particular context. He thereby takes up the close connection with light inherent in humankind. Just think of the powerful effect of spring’s first sunshine, or the way one can hardly turn one’s gaze away from a campfire? It is this basic visual experience – which puts the viewer into a state of „wordless thinking“, as Turrell puts it – which he strives to evoke.
The artist adjusts his works to the special features of the location they are intended for. For the reopening of Kunsthalle, James Turrell has adapted his earlier work Floating Windows created in 2007 for the exterior facade of the former annex. Now, the new work illuminates the passage James Turrell between the art nouveau building and the new annex. The light space creates a connection between different architectural styles while eclipsing all discrepancies, showing light can erase all boundaries.
Made possible by the Hector Foundation II Kunst gGmbH
Kunsthalle Mannheim / Florian Holzherr
)