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Few contemporary artists have transformed the perception of light quite like James Turrell. With the opening of As Seen Below at Denmark’s ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, the American artist has once again redefined the relationship between architecture, nature and human perception, unveiling the largest Skyspace ever created within a museum.
One of the world’s foremost light artists, James Turrell, has unveiled As Seen Below, a monumental permanent installation at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark.
Opening ahead of the summer solstice, the work becomes Turrell’s 100th Skyspace and the largest ever realised within a museum setting, marking a significant milestone in the artist’s five-decade exploration of light, space and perception.
An Architecture Designed Around the Sky
Standing 16 metres high and stretching 40 metres in diameter, As Seen Below invites visitors into an immersive architectural environment unlike any traditional gallery experience.
The journey begins through an underground passage before opening into an immense circular chamber crowned by a perfectly framed aperture to the sky.
Rather than displaying an artwork, the installation transforms the sky itself into the artwork.
Changing weather, shifting daylight and the passing seasons continually reshape the experience, ensuring that no two visits are ever the same.
Light as the Medium
For more than fifty years, James Turrell has challenged conventional ideas of sculpture by using light as his primary material.
His celebrated Skyspaces isolate fragments of the sky within carefully engineered architectural settings, subtly altering visitors’ perception of colour, depth and distance.
At ARoS, this exploration reaches an unprecedented scale.
As natural daylight interacts with precisely calibrated artificial illumination inside the vast dome, the boundaries between architecture and atmosphere begin to dissolve, creating the illusion that the colour and texture of the sky itself are changing.
It is an experience that can only be understood through direct encounter.
Three Ways to Experience the Installation
ARoS presents As Seen Below through three distinct experiences.
Open Sky allows the circular aperture to remain unobstructed throughout museum hours, turning the Danish sky into an ever-changing canvas.
During Colour Shift, the aperture closes as carefully programmed light transforms the interior architecture, creating an immersive environment where perception becomes the central subject.
Perhaps most striking are the Twilight Sessions, held at sunrise and sunset, when natural and artificial light merge to produce the extraordinary optical phenomena for which Turrell has become internationally renowned.
Completing a New Cultural Landmark
The installation forms part of a major expansion of ARoS developed with internationally acclaimed architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen in partnership with Aarhus Municipality.
The broader redevelopment includes The Salling Gallery, a subterranean exhibition space dedicated to annual contemporary commissions, alongside ARoS Art Square, a new outdoor platform for public art.
Together, these additions strengthen ARoS’ reputation as one of Europe’s leading destinations for immersive contemporary art, joining iconic installations including Olafur Eliasson’s Your rainbow panorama and Ron Mueck’s Boy.
An Artwork That Never Stands Still
Unlike conventional sculpture or painting, As Seen Below has no fixed appearance.
Every passing cloud, shifting season and changing hour alters the experience, making the installation a living dialogue between architecture, light and nature.
It is this ever-changing quality that has made James Turrell one of the most influential artists of his generation.
With As Seen Below, ARoS has not simply acquired another artwork—it has created a permanent destination where visitors are invited to slow down, look upward and experience light as both material and meditation.
