James Turrell Night Life

James Turrell Night Life

Post
Subscribe

Posted 2018-07-26 by Geraldine Masseyfollow
If you've been in the city near the river or at South Bank's cultural precinct after dark recently you may have noticed the Gallery of Modern Art ablaze with a colourful glowing fluorescence and wondered what was going on. Well, what's going on is James Turrell Night Life and it's not just a temporary light show. It's big, bold and beautiful and set to make GOMA's building itself the star of the gallery's artistic show in perpetuum. And it's FREE to watch every night from sunset to midnight.


I decided to round out my evening visit to GOMA's Cinémathèque for a lively whodunnit as part of The Great Detective Film Program with a close-up viewing of this masterful light show and I wasn't disappointed.


Background

I've always liked GOMA's glass-panelled pavilion building, with its balconies and timber slats, topped by a soaring overhanging roof that flips upwards gently at the corners. Designed by John Norman, Lindsay Clare, Kerry Clare, and James Jones and opened in December 2006 the building won the 2007 Royal Australian Institute of Architects National Award for Public Architecture.


At the time there was a proposal to commission American artist James Turrell (world-renowned for his light installations) to create a work for GOMA's opening, but this did not go ahead. In 2017 to mark the gallery's 10th anniversary Turrell was finally commissioned to fulfil the architects' original vision of turning the building's facade into a giant canvas. 2018 is the spectacular result.


The experience

I settled on a timber bench opposite the building to await the show. Just on dusk, at first almost imperceptibly, the translucent cube began to subtly glow with blue. The blue slowly intensified and morphed into purple, which became a vibrant pink and then a molten lava red.


I was entranced as the symphony of colours swelled and receded. It wasn't just a change from one colour to the next. Sometimes one intense colour faded and then blurred almost seamlessly into another.


Sometimes the colour shift began at one end of the building and moved across the facade, higlighting the demarcation between colours.



Sometimes one colour lingered for a while and then quickly intensified. Purples pulsed to pinks, yellows grew to greens. It was a rich kaleidoscopic display.


I had to tear myself away for the film but was keen to see how the darkening sky had changed the vista in my absence. Against a black sky the colours seemed even more vibrant and intense.


is light at its luminous, lustrous best and a vibrant and artistic addition to Brisbane's nightscape. Come and watch the show.

#architecture
#art
#attractions
#brisbane_city
#community_events
#free
#nightlife
#south_bank
#things_to_see
#tourist_attractions
%wnbrisbane
151254 - 2023-06-14 05:17:57

Tags

Free
Outdoor
Festivals
Music
Markets
Nightlife
Fundraisers
Family_friendly
Community
Arts_culture
Food_drink
Educational
Shopping_markets
Theatre_shows
Holiday
Copyright 2022 OatLabs ABN 18113479226