“Dividing the Light,” by James Turrell: Look Up and Imagine a World of Your Own
Janice Hoffmann writes Stories by Janus
Free and famous, that's “Dividing the Light” by James Turrell, located on the Pomona College campus in Claremont, CA, one of over 80 installations worldwide called a Skyspace that demands the participant-observer look overhead to a naked, unadorned sky and allow their eyes to be tricked by lights changing on the surrounding structure. The show happens twice daily, before and after sunrise and again before and after sunset.
You could travel to fifteen states within the U.S. or over a dozen cities throughout South America, Europe, and Asia to see a Turrell Skyspace. You could fly to Australia and on to Hobart, Tasmania, before taking a ferry to an island and visiting the Museum of Old and New Art. You could go to the tiny town of Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, elevation 7800 feet, population 641, and schedule a three-mile hike into the mountains. You could walk in Claremont on the campus of Pomona College at dawn or sunset, or you could look to the sky wherever you are. What frames your personal skyspace? Skyscrapers? Trees? Horizons? Ponder perspective.
Here are the words of Ashley Cornelius, the Pikes Peak Region Poet Laureate, on the occasion of the opening of the most recent skyspace envisioned by the public servants of a tiny mountain hamlet:
I dare you to look up when you enter the Skyspace Embrace a new perspective. Live fully in the present moment. Ceremoniously disrobe your preconceived notions. Leave them at the door and walk into curiosity. Turn your head for the universe that is aching to connect. Lean back and formally introduce yourself to a world that exists right above us. Invite those who have not yet dared to dream to step into the artistry of their imagination. I dare you to look up and imagine a world of your own. Take the dare. Look up. Imagine a world of your own.
https://www.pomona.edu/museum/collections/james-turrell-skyspace