James Turrell Cross-corner Projections, from Kijkdun, 1996
This publication was made on occasion of the completion of the project James Turrell, 'Celestial Vault in the Dunes' and two new installations at Stroom, Spui The Hague, Netherlands
Clestial Vault at Kijkdune By Gerrit Willems Light, Space and observation ae the core of Turrell's work. 'By making something out of light, with light filling space, I am concerned with issues of how we perceive,' is one of Turrell's often cited quotes...
Turrell creates situations in which you can observe light directly and unhindered. He frees light from its source, isolates it and works in such a way that you experience its tangible presence in the space. Not that you could actually touch light with your hands, but Turrell activates a way of seeing in which the experience of feeling is attained. The eyes feel the material presence of light.
Turrell continued his investigations with 'cross-corner projections'. He used diferent kinds of light projected from different eye levels and incorporated various colours... in the next series of works, the "shallow space constructions", the perception of the space were more drastically changed. In this case, a wall was placed in front of an existing wall. Behind this partition, tubes of flourescent light were mounted. This produced light that streamed into the room along one or more edges of the partition, causing the wall to appear to bend either in or out...
Lastly, the 'wedgeworks' are extensions of the 'shallow space constructions'. In this series of works, the partition is placed at an angle, creating a diagonal flow of loght into the space. The room appears to be cut in half, the one side being compromised of a transparent block of light."
...he said ' you can feel things with your eyes. Observation is much closer to thought than words'.