This summer, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum has opened As Seen Below, James Turrell’s vast new Skyspace and one of the most ambitious works yet by the American artist and master of light. Set inside a 40-metre-wide subterranean dome in Denmark, the work invites visitors to descend below ground and look upwards, through a circular opening cut into the ceiling, where the sky becomes part of the experience itself. Turrell has spent more than half a century working with light, space and perception, shaping environments that heighten our awareness of how we see. His Skyspaces are now found across the world and are among his most recognisable works: architectural chambers that frame the sky and transform it through carefully controlled light. As Seen Below marks Turrell’s 100th Skyspace and is the largest Skyspace created for a museum context. During the day, the dome opens to the sky, allowing weather and Nordic light to shift the experience in real time. In Colour Shift mode, the opening closes and the chamber is transformed by luminous fields of colour, making light seem almost physical. At sunrise and sunset, the work enters its most atmospheric state, as Turrell’s changing hues meet the natural light beyond the aperture. The space turns looking into an event, slowing time and making the familiar sky feel newly strange and fascinating.

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