‘wadi alfann presents james turrell’ kicks off alula arts festival
James Turrell brings his sensorial artworks to the historic old town of AlUla, Saudi Arabia, for the ‘Wadi AlFann presents James Turrell’ exhibition. A prelude to his Land Art commission for Wadi AlFann (an open-air museum, the ‘Valley of the Arts’), the exhibition charts his legacy as a pioneering Light and Space artist and reveals a first glimpse at his upcoming colossal installation in the desert expanse. The untitled work is set to be constructed within the next four years and builds upon his ongoing explorations into the phenomena of color, space, and perception while using AlUla’s dramatic natural landscape and its purity of light as muse. Beyond creating an ethereal space to stage optical, cosmic encounters, it will also function as a permanent museum showcasing many of Turrell’s significant works.
A sequence of vast pathways, tunnels, chambers, and staircases will be carved into the canyon floor. As visitors navigate through, under, and out of the earth, and between lightness and darkness, they traverse a sensorial, singular experience of the land and the sky. Wadi AlFann’s Lead Curator Iwona Blazwick notes that the outdoor subterranean oculi, called Skyspaces, will be ‘cosmic observatories’ that dissolve horizons and challenge perceptions of celestial light. These circular spaces frame the shifting hues of the sky above as Turrell manipulates the context of vision while descending further leads into the Sun/Moon Chamber where the earth and cosmos are connected via what Turrell calls a ‘lensless telescope’. Above ground, the site expands into a planetary diagram etched into the earth, surrounded by sandstone mountains and crowned by an obelisk marking the sun’s passage like a sundial. The spaces present a surreal experience of Turrell’s philosophy of the ‘thingness of light’, examining the very nature of seeing where light itself becomes the revelation. Alongside revealing plans for the land art, the exhibition showcases some of Turrell’s most influential light sculptures to kick off the AlUla Arts Festival which runs from January 16 to February 22. ‘Wadi AlFann presents James Turrell’ will remain on view at AlJadidah Arts District until April 19.
all images © James Turrell, courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla
inside the upcoming colossal land art
James Turrell’s land art for Wadi AlFann builds upon his ongoing work at Roden Crater, where for the last five decades he has been reshaping an extinct volcano in the desert of Northern Arizona with light. This manifestation in AlUla of the same methodologies he has been continuing to develop will reactivate the desert wilderness as an immersive ‘naked-eye observatory’ of light and space, inviting visitors to journey deep into the earth. ‘The work envisioned for Wadi AlFann will have two large Skyspaces and two small Skyspaces, that each addresses different aspects of sky. All of my Skyspaces engage the natural light of the area. The light quality in AlUla is of dry desert air with little moisture, which yields a light in the sky that is crisp and clear,’ says the American artist. These cosmic observatories, as Michael Goven of LACMA, the exhibition’s Guest Curator, shares, are apertures in the ceiling that allow us to measure the movement of the sky and earth in time with our eyes.
Visitors will navigate hundreds of meters of tunnels carved into the mountain, culminating in a series of celestial experiences that forge optical and physical connections with astronomical time. One such feature is the obelisk surrounded by a constellation map which ‘lays out the stars and celestial bodies above us, showing their exact positions in orbit using LEDs that highlight their paths,’ the curatorial team tells designboom as we explore the exhibition. The journey leads to a central plaza and Skyspaces that use only natural light to reveal phenomena rarely visible to the naked eye. During the winter solstice, for instance, the path of sunlight is projected in the sunroom chamber. ‘Across the white marble, you’ll be able to see the spots and flares of the real sun above us that we can’t usually see, as well as the craters and dark spots of the moon. The artist is trying to connect us to these celestial bodies, bringing them into our lived-in space,’ they continue. The experience also features two underground chambers offering contrasting experiences of boundlessness. The Ganzfeld chamber immerses visitors in pure, colored light that dissolves walls and creates a dimensionless void. In contrast, the Wedgework chamber uses precise planes of light to create luminous forms that layer over one another, producing a dreamlike interplay between solidity and dissolution, evoking what Turrell describes as ‘a light that looks like the light you see in your dream.’
James Turrell unveils renders for his upcoming land art installation in Wadi AlFann
a survey of turrell’s mastery of light, color, and perception
Alongside presenting renders and a short film where James Turrell outlines his plans for the land art in Wadi AlFann, the exhibition gathers some of Turrell’s earliest light works alongside some of his most recent creations. The exhibition surveys the American artist’s mastery of holding and directing light — both artificial and celestial — as a medium for shaping sensory experiences. Immersing visitors in what Turrell describes as ‘the wordless thought that comes from looking at a fire,’ each work is then a meditation on the nature of perception. His cross-corner projection work Alta, an ethereal pyramid of light first created in 1968, sculpts a translucent volume into darkness with the immaterial element. As we move from one of its edges to the other appears to slightly rotate, its luminous pink-violet planes appear almost solid in this illusion.
His Jubilee installation pulses an intricately intense composition of color and light. Hypnotic discs of light seem to shift imperceptibly and emerge from another dimension, carrying viewers seamlessly from dazzling crimson to icy blue hues. As Guest Curator Michael Govan explains, the vibrant reds and blues we observe are not solely present in the light projected but are partially constructed in our minds. When our eyes encounter a vivid red and it disappears, the complementary afterimage of green overlays the subsequent hues, creating entirely new colors in our perception. Turrell reminds us that even the sky’s color is not fixed or given to us — it is ‘awarded’ through our context of vision. This interplay between light and perception mirrors the oculus Turrell plans to install in Wadi AlFann, a sphere that, like Jubilee, feels like a portal to an alternate reality. He builds on this optical illusion in a small, framed canvas with his Hologram series, where a slender shard of light appears to float, uncontained in the picture plane in juxtaposition.
the subterranean oculi — Skyspaces — are ‘cosmic observatories’ that frame the shifting hues of the sky above
the untitled work builds upon Turrell’s ongoing investigations into the phenomena of color, space, and perception
a sequence of vast pathways, tunnels, chambers, and staircases will be carved into the canyon floor
envisioned as a portal to an alternate reality through light

the exhibition kicks off the AlUla Arts Festival
Alta, an ethereal pyramid of light first created in 1968, sculpts a translucent pink volume into darkness with light
an optical illusion in a small, framed canvas where a slender shard of light appears to float

Jubilee pulses an intricately intense composition of color and light
hypnotic discs of light seem to shift imperceptibly and emerge from another dimension
as Govan explains, the vibrant reds and blues we observe are not solely present in the light projected
the vivid, shifting hues are partially constructed in our minds, as Turrell manipulates the light
this artwork mirrors the oculus Turrell plans to install in Wadi AlFann
project info:
name: Land Art commission for Wadi AlFann
artist: James Turrell
location: AlUla, Saudi Arabia
program: AlUla Arts Festival | @artsalula
dates: January 16 – February 22, 2025
exhibition: Wadi AlFann presents James Turrell
dates: January 16 – April 19, 2025