James Turrell’s monumental project for the Valley of the Arts in AlUla

At the heart of the exhibition “Wadi AlFann presents James Turrell” is a journey through decades of work exploring light, space and perception, an invitation to gaze at the sky and its mysteries deep within the earth.

Between the 1960s and 1970s, traditional exhibition spaces were challenged by a powerful wave of contestation. In the heyday of conceptual art and minimalism, the way the public engaged with works of art became a crucial issue, as did the questioning of the very space where this encounter was meant to take place. The museum, as a space for cultural consumption, was criticised as lifeless environment, akin to a "mausoleum" disconnected from life and the needs of contemporary art. It was a space to escape from, in favor of new, unbounded landscapes exempted from the logic of the market and contemporary capitalism.

The formal legacy of these radical artistic choices, ones that identified the pristine wilderness of the desert as their ideal setting, continues to inspire cultural projects today, such as the ambitious Wadi AlFann, or the “Valley of the Arts”, in AlUla, a future hub for Land Art which will extend over a 65-square-kilometer desert in the northwestern region of Saudi Arabia.

Jmaes Turrell
Installation view of Jubilee (2021), Royal Commission for AlUla contemporary art collection, © James Turrell. Courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla

Among the first works commissioned by Iwona Blazwick, former director of the Whitechapel Gallery in London and now head of the Royal Commission for Public Art in AlUla, are projects by some of the most influential figures of Earth Art, including Michael Heizer, Agnes Denes, and James Turrell. To the latter, is dedicated the exhibition Wadi AlFann presents James Turrell, which offers a glimpse into his monumental plan for Wadi AlFann while connecting it to his lifelong research into the nature of perception.

To trace the evolution of his artistic language, one that has never relied on traditional means, the exhibition features four key works from the Royal Commission for AlUla and private collections, which are among the most exemplary of his oeuvre: an installation from the Cross Corner Projection series, a piece from the Magnatron series inspired by childhood memories, another from the Hologram series, and the most recent Jubilee, which directly influenced the oculus of Wadi AlFann.

Jmaes Turrell
Alta (Pink) 1968, Royal Commission for AlUla contemporary art collection, © James Turrell. Courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla

Through renderings, light installations, projects, and a stellar map, visitors will also immerse themselves in the vast network of tunnels and chambers that will be carved deep into the canyon over the coming years. According to the project’s curator, Turrell’s vision is to create a phenomenological experience that seamlessly merges with the cosmic and natural landscape. His design includes Skyspaces — his signature open-air observatories — and a Sun/Moon Chamber, intended to dissolve the horizon and manipulate spatial perception through shifting light effects. Above the ground, the site will expand into a planetary diagram etched into the earth, surrounded by sandstone mountains and topped by an obelisk marking the sun’s passage, much like a sundial.

Just as in his installation-sculptures - where light is used to create the illusion of a solid form, a revelation rather than a physical object - these spaces at Wadi AlFann will offer a surreal experience of the “materiality of light”, in a methodological and philosophical continuity with his monumental work at Roden Crater in Arizona, where, for the past fifty years, the artist has been reshaping a vast volcanic crater into a work of art.

Exhibition: Wadi AlFann presents James Turrell Curated by: Michael Govan Location: AlJadidah Arts District, AlUla, Saudi Arabia Dates: from 16th January 2025 to 19th April 2025.

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