Spring 2015 Desma Final

Event 5: LACMA – James Turrell, Breathing Light

James Turrell’s “Breathing Light” is a piece that is designed to manipulate and eliminate a spectator’s depth perception. Upon seeing this exhibit as one of the possible events to attend, I knew it would be unique and fit perfectly with our class as this artist’s art is known for being a “nexus for the worlds of art, science, architecture, astronomy, mathematics…” to name a few, which have all appeared in our course.

This is an image on the LACMA website as we were not allowed to take pictures.

[Image 1: “Breathing Light” – James Turrell]

MY EXPERIENCE:

As we are called to the room, we are asked to sit on a bench and remove our shoes and put on covers over our feet. 8 people are then asked to walk up a platform and spread out in the room.  Since pictures were not permitted, I decided to sketch out two images: one of my POV before entering the room, and one of the space itself.

[Image 2: Left – POV of room; Right – Sketch of space]

I felt like I was being asked to go into outer space and had to complete a series of tasks before lift off into the unknown. The screen started off being a pink-ish red hue and as the “show” continued, the colors began to change. I did not record if it changed at a specific time interval but I began experimenting with my breathing to see if that had any effect.

To my surprise, I felt as if the screen expanded a little bit as I inhaled, and contracted a little bit as I exhaled. I asked a friend if they noticed that too, but they didn’t.

No one moved from their original positioning and no one tried to move closer to the screen. I thought if this sensation was what it felt like to the astronauts who first went into space like Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong when walking on the moon. My friend then commented, “I feel as if I got closer, I would fall off a cliff.” Turrell eliminated the spectator’s depth perception. I feel that it is important to have fewer people in the space (thus the 8 person capacity) that way the visitors could experience the effects of isolation and focus just on their positioning space.

I kept thinking about the Math+Art unit. The artist probably tinkered with vanishing points to manipulate the spectator’s perception.

As you wait for your turn into the exhibit, explore LACMA and take some pictures:

[Image 3: Jesus Rafael Soto's "Penetrable"]

[Image 4: Chris Burden's "Urban Light"]

[Image 5: Proof of Entrance - Receipt]

WORKS CITED:

Frantz, Marc. "Lesson 3: Vanishing Points and Looking at Art." (2000): 1-10. Web.  

             <http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cap6938-02/refs/VanishingPoints.pdf>.

"James Turrell, Breathing Light." James Turrell, Breathing Light. N.p., n.d. Web. 07

              June 2015.

Knight, Christopher. "Art Review: The Light through James Turrell's Eyes."Los    

             Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2013. Web. 07 June 2015.

"LACMA’s Top 10 Things to See and Do." The Family Savvy. N.p., 16 May 2013. Web.

             07 June 2015.

Schweitzer, Dahlia. "Inside the Light: James Turrell in LA." Hyperallergic RSS. N.p., 01

            July 2013. Web. 07 June 2015.