“As Seen Below—The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell,” June 2025. (Photo: Mads Smidstrup)
Throughout his decades-long career, James Turrell has perfected his visual language: pure, minimalist, sensorial, spatial. These words may describe the American artist’s approach to light, color, and form, but perhaps nothing encapsulates his practice better than his celebrated Skyspace series. These site-specific installations encourage viewers to gaze upwards to the ceiling, where they encounter a sliver of the open sky. Now, the artist is casting his eye toward Denmark, where he will launch his newest Skyspace next summer.
Opening in June 2026 at the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum As Seen Below will be Turrell’s largest-ever Skyspace installed within a museum context. The monumental installation measures 16 meters in height (about 52 feet) and 40 meters in diameter (about 131 feet), creating a contemplative atmosphere in which the ceiling and the sky are not afterthoughts but focal points. Visitors enter As Seen Below through an underground corridor, which eventually trails off into the domed, indoor space that houses the installation itself.
Once inside, waves of soft light lap at the walls, while minimalist benches line the room’s perimeter and encourage guests to sit down, reflect, and rest. At the heart of As Seen Below is, of course, the large central aperture in the ceiling, through which the sky can be glimpsed. As with previous Skyspaces, As Seen Below celebrates the natural ebb and flow not only of light, but of seasons and weather. On rainy days, the aperture looks like a gray cavity, while on cloudless days, it resembles a deep-blue coin.
“With As Seen Below, I’m shaping the experience of seeing rather than delivering an image,” Turrell explains. “The architecture holds the sky close, so you recognize that the act of looking is the work itself. Here, light isn’t description; it’s the substance you stand within.”
Notably, As Seen Below will complete ARoS’ Next Level, a major expansion project by the Danish museum in collaboration with Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects. The expansion features the Salling Gallery, a subterranean exhibition space specifically oriented toward annual contemporary art commissions. It also includes the Art Square, a permanent outdoor space for art exhibitions.
But, even with these exciting additions, As Seen Below may just stand as the project’s most anticipated element. After all, it’s not simply a monumental love letter to the world in which we live. It insists, in Turrell’s own words, that the “day has weight, the evening has temperature, and the change belongs to you.”
To stay updated about James Turrell’s upcoming Skyspace, visit the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum website and follow the artist on Instagram.
James Turrell’s new Skyspace, titled As Seen Below, will open next summer at the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark.
“As Seen Below—The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell,” June 2025. (Photo: Mads Smidstrup)
“As Seen Below—The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell,” June 2025. (Photo: Mads Smidstrup)
“As Seen Below—The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell,” June 2025. (Photo: Mads Smidstrup)
“As Seen Below—The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell,” June 2025. (Photo: Mads Smidstrup)
As Seen Below is part of ARoS’ larger expansion project, which includes a new subterranean gallery and outdoor exhibition space.
Exterior visualization of “As Seen Below—The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell,” as seen in Musikhusparken (Photo: Schmidt Hammer Lassen)
Exterior visualization of “As Seen Below—The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell,” as seen in Musikhusparken (Photo: Schmidt Hammer Lassen)