Event #2, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Breathing Light Entry Sign

For my second event visit, I went to LACMA and explored the Breathing Light exhibit.  This interactive exhibit was created by James Turrell in 2013.

James Turrell

Turrell was born in Los Angeles in 1943 and became interested in space and light.  After graduating from Pomona College, "where he studied art, art history, mathematics, perceptual psychology and astronomy," according to LACMA, he went on to earn a graduate degree in fine arts.  Turell has created exhibits around the world which have led to him receiving many awards from the Guggenheim Fellowship and the National Medal of Arts to Sustainable Building Award in architecture. 

Me with the James Turrell sign at LACMA

Here at LACMA, the Breathing Light exhibit is fascinating.  When first entering the staging area for the exhibit, curators instruct viewers to remove their shoes and place on fabric footies to be worn in the main room.  The exhibit consists of a box-like room with very peculiar dimensions.  Turrell strategically created the opening of the room to appear as a rectangle, but once inside the exhibit, the walls curve outward to the end of the room to alter the viewers perspective.  Instead of looking like a normal room, the space appears to go on forever.  At the far end of the room, the floor ends before it reaches the back wall to allow for color-changing lights to be hidden which illuminate the room.  To compliment this, there are lights placed against the upper ceiling of the entry passage.  When the two sets of lights together shine a particular blue color, the visual effect off the special white painted surfaces is a fog that appears to hover over the blank space in the room.

View from Breathing Light staging area

View of person inside Breathing Light exhibit

The visual effects created by just using lights, paints, and architectural tricks are incredible and I would highly recommend everyone visit this exhibit.  This event visit did not influence my midterm project, but has further spurred my interest in exploring space.  Combining this with our study of space in Unit 9 and my love of the TV show Star Trek, I want to further explore the technology involved with creating a sustainable environment for life on other planets and the possible economic opportunities that arise with asteroid mining.

Works Cited

"Biography." James Turrell. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2015. <http://jamesturrell.com/about/biography/>. 

Breathing Light. Digital image. J + CO. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2015. <http://www.jco.la/blog/portfolio/james-turrell-a-retrospective-lacma/>. 

"James Turrell, Breathing Light." LACMA. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2015. <http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/james-turrell-breathing-light>. 

Turrell, James. Breathing Light. 2013. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles.