James Turrell (*1943 inLos Angeles) is undoubtedly the most influential contemporary light artist. His entire oeuvre is dedicated to the exploration of the many facets of natural and artificial light. In his work, light and space become experiential processes, reflecting the basic conditions of aesthetic perception.

At the center of this book is a group of works, Sky Spaces, which have become an art form in their own right, developed by Turrell over the course of his career. Academic, philosophical, and art-historical essays explain the development and significance of these perceptual spaces, whose concept is closely bound to the creation of the Roden Crater Project in the Arizona desert, where the artist began erecting an observatory in 1974. Examples of his work are used to explain the meaning of these light spaces to contemporary art. Also included is the latest installation, Skyspace/Camera Obscura Space, which Turrell conceived for the Zentrum für Internationale Lichtkunst in Unna.

Exhibition schedule: Zentrum für Internationale Lichtkunst, Unna, January 31–May 31, 2009 · Simultaneous opening of James Turrell’s most recent permanent installation, Skyspace/Camera Obscura Space · Symposium April/May 2009

Edited by Kulturbetriebe Unna, Ursula Sinnreich, foreword by Axel Sedlack, texts by Gerhard Buurman, Gernot Böhme, Julian Heynen, Max Rheiner, Agostino De Rosa, Ursula Sinnreich, Christian Weber