The Vacant Sky: James Turrell and the Mind That Needs to Wander

James Turrell began reshaping ‘Roden Crater’ in 1977. Carving rooms within the very core of its volcanic cone in the Painted Desert of Arizona. It has been under construction for nearly fifty years, during which time he has tunnelled into its ancient body, carved chambers that funnel starlight, and cut apertures in its rim so that the naked eye can perceive the sky, not as weather or backdrop, but as something of a physical object. People have described entering the space as something close to vertigo, close to awe. The sky becomes something you can almost touch.