With James Turrell in the Alps
Foto: Florian Holzherr
A narrow tunnel, 15 m in length, leads visitors from Tannegg in Oberlech into Turrell’s new Skyspace. Outside of the installation, the panorama opens onto imposing mountain peaks and the Schlosskopfbahn gondola station. The Skyspace itself is mainly underground and integrated into the landscape beneath a dome. Inside it, a seemingly limitless space amazes visitors and sharpens their sense of perception.
Skyspace Lech was designed on an oval ground plan of 9 x 6 m. Turrell’s detailed sketches were translated into architectural plans by the Vorarlberg-based architects Baumschlager-Eberle. Black granite lines the space inside, while a circumferential bench invites visitors to linger, guiding their gaze into the dome. A retractable elliptical opening in the ceiling opens up like an oversized eye to bring a piece of sky into the space.
A uniform light floods the space so that its structure seems to dissolve, removing all sense of visual orientation. This, together with the view of the sky, offers visitors an extraordinary visual experience of boundless space, immersed in light and colour. The absence of depth perception attunes viewers to their own inner perception. In Turrell’s spatial composition, light, space and time converge. According to the artist, “My desire is to set up a situation to which I take you and let you see. It becomes your experience.”
This remarkable installation was initiated by the non-profit art association Horizon Field, and made possible thanks to the support of numerous donors and sponsors. Nestled in the high alpine landscape, Skyspace Lech is open to the public in both summer and winter.
Opening hours and more information: skyspace-lech.com
Skyspace Lech was designed on an oval ground plan of 9 x 6 m. Turrell’s detailed sketches were translated into architectural plans by the Vorarlberg-based architects Baumschlager-Eberle. Black granite lines the space inside, while a circumferential bench invites visitors to linger, guiding their gaze into the dome. A retractable elliptical opening in the ceiling opens up like an oversized eye to bring a piece of sky into the space.
A uniform light floods the space so that its structure seems to dissolve, removing all sense of visual orientation. This, together with the view of the sky, offers visitors an extraordinary visual experience of boundless space, immersed in light and colour. The absence of depth perception attunes viewers to their own inner perception. In Turrell’s spatial composition, light, space and time converge. According to the artist, “My desire is to set up a situation to which I take you and let you see. It becomes your experience.”
This remarkable installation was initiated by the non-profit art association Horizon Field, and made possible thanks to the support of numerous donors and sponsors. Nestled in the high alpine landscape, Skyspace Lech is open to the public in both summer and winter.
Opening hours and more information: skyspace-lech.com
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