The folding of Forces into Forms
- by Joanie Lemercier
- in blog homepage Nature
- posted février 26, 2019
A silent photo report from my recent trip across California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
Exploring the sublime: Scale beyond comprehension
RODEN CRATER and the experience of light
In 1974, artist James Turrell spent 7 months flying his small airplane across the Westerns States in the search for the perfect volcano.
In November that year, he spotted the Roden crater, 50 miles North West of Flagstaff Arizona, and bought it a few years later.
Turrell is turning the volcano into a giant naked eye telescope, with several chambers/installations, to heighten our sensory connection to the cosmos, and get a sense of geological and astronomical times.
The work has been going on since 1979, and @rodencrater isn’t open to the public yet.
I wanted to discover this unique topography and witness the light and landscape I heard so much about, so I spent 2 days on the East and West sides of the crater, just outside Turrell’s land.
These few days are hard to describe, the stay was emotionally and physically challenging (temperatures felt to 4°C / 40°F at night), but the quality of light, the land, the lack of human and temporal references made the experience astonishing.
Venus was blindingly bright, and the moonlight was so intense that all shadows created looked just unreal. <<When it opens, it’s going to be the 8th wonder of the world>> told me Jimbo, the guardian who’s been living here for the past 10 years.
Photos: Roden Crater 7.15 PM – 7.30 PM – 8 PM – 5.25AM – 5.40 AM – 7AM
Drawings at Roden
The folding of Forces into Forms
Michel onfray, Cosmos
Comments
Patricia Lortie
octobre 7, 2019 at 2:47Is there a way to sign up to your blog so I will receive it in my email when you post?
Gail Joseph
octobre 18, 2019 at 8:51Magnificent! And inspiring.
Rudolfo Quintas
février 20, 2021 at 3:36Beautifl post. The same year January 2019, I went to an island in the middle if the atlantic ocean called Santo Antão, part of the Cabo Verde islands and make me remember that place in some way – raw and pure rock and sand landscapes shaped by wind and nature. James Turrel work inspires me to levitate and is beautiful to see you creative process.