Hasta La Ideas

Artist James Turrell’s mind-bending experience of light, sound and space in Järna, Sweden

The average human takes many things for granted, but in the eyes of American artist James Turrell the light and color around us is top of the list.
For the past 30 years the pioneering artist has been creating breathtaking installations based around the simplistically multifaceted mediums of light, color and space. In fact, Turrell can lay claim to owning the world’s largest piece of art, the Roden Crater, which affords the viewer access to celestial phenomena at a location just outside of Flagstaff, Arizona.

While the crater is still very much a work in progress, a new exhibition entitled “See! Colour!” just opened in the unlikely location of Järna, a small commune just outside Stockholm which has played a huge part in the Swedish anthroposophical movement over the years.

The show features a host of Turrell’s site-specific installations—all of which are programmed according to their locations in the world and proximity to the atmosphere, light and climate. Each of the five works is undeniable proof not only of Turrell’s artistic acumen but of the potential of color and light to inform and baffle the mind.

“Ganzfeld“, treats the viewer to an enormous room which cycles between the red and blue portions of the color spectrum (according to Turrell’s technician these color groups are chosen for their ability to overload the retina quickly). It takes seconds for the dimensions of the space to vanish while the mind attempts to locate corners, walls and angles, an effect that’s both disconcerting and exhilarating at the same time.

From Ganzfeld, a short walk leads visitors to the gentle hues of Wedgewood, which acts like a tranquilizer to the overloaded brain, structuring the exhibition cleverly with its change of pace.

Many of the works at Järna are not only site but time specific. Skyspace, a work which perhaps epitomizes Turrell’s work, is best viewed a short time before the sun rises and sets. Inside a tall cylindrical room with a skylight-like hole cut into the center of the roof a series of lights are aligned in the direction of the natural light pouring in. The result is a disorientating change of color in the natural light, and a slice of the atmosphere which seems almost tangible. “Light is all around us, it’s what feeds out bodies, while we describe emotions, art and life through the language of light and color,” explains Turrell.

Discussing what many consider to be his most powerful piece, Bindu Shards, Turrell told us that, thanks to his time as a pilot, “My work has always been informed with an exploration of a landscape without horizons, like a whiteout, the rapture of the deep. I try to create a horizon-less, gravity-less space.”

Bindu Shards is a 4.2-meter sphere in which the viewer is inserted, lying on their back, wearing headphones and carrying a panic button. Choosing from hard or soft, they are taken on an indescribable 15 minute journey that is likely to linger in the mind for weeks following.

A small sign plays in the headphones as a veritable light show plays out, triggering what Turrell calls “Behind the Eye Seeing,” in which you feel as if your entire field of vision is extended through to 360 degrees. Color, light and the audible sign take the mind to a place where breaks of solid color create the sensation of flying and physical release. The fact that you are enclosed, alone in the sphere also allows you to actually feel the different temperatures from the wavelengths of each respective color.

While there is a large number of installations on site at Järna, this is seemingly only a small slice of the potential color holds, and with every passing technological advancement, Turrell’s pieces are destined to become even more moving and pioneering.

“See! Colour!” is a stirring odyssey of color and light which has to be seen to be truly believed. The exhibition is open through 4 October 2011. All images by Florian Holzherr, see more in the gallery.

An interview with Miami’s champion of independent film

Speeding through Miami in a 1992 Toyota Corolla after midnight is just another day on the job for mastermind and self-proclaimed “Minister of The Interior” of the Borscht Film Festival Lucas Leyva. Leaving his own after party, the head of the city’s premier independent film event was on a mission for Miami’s rapper-turned-mayoral candidate, Unkle Luke Campbell, who told Leyva that he wouldn’t go onstage without three bikini-clad women to back him up—totally normal for a festival the Miami New Times calls “a wildly creative three-week event akin to Sundance on psychotropic mushrooms.”

Semi-nude performances aside, the films included works by award-winning director and Miami native Barry Jenkins, up-and-coming sketch comedy dynamo Duncan Skiles and recent Guggenheim Video Biennale winner Jillian Mayer, who collaborated with indie powerhouse directors Rakontur Films. (“La Pageant Diva” pictured above.) In a city of excess, Leyva’s unassuming disposition and generosity have made him an unlikely candidate for an independent cinema impresario, but his efforts prove that the 305 area code isn’t always synonymous with South Beach debauchery.

We sat down with Leyva to learn more about the independent film festival and his role in making it all happen.

How many of the films in Borscht did you have a hand in personally?

All of them. I was really involved in “Play Dead” from the concept stage throughout, but I had a hand in every film screened.

How was it possible for you to create Miami’s serious foray into independent cinema?

It wouldn’t have been possible without grants, like the one from the Knight Foundation or the support of individuals who really understand the cause. In Miami, until recently, people didn’t get it. They liked watching movies, but for people to invest in Miami cinema, they would expect to see Michael Bay films or “Burn Notice” type of stories. There’s been a huge brain-drain here and because of that typically really talented film makers from Miami have left to L.A. or New York as soon as they had the opportunity.

How long was the process to get the festival to where it is now?

This is the seventh year. Borscht was really started in high school, when a group of my friends and I wanted to make movies, but needed a place to show them. Since then it has grown by leaps and bounds, and become a launching pad for Miami artists to show their work at festivals around the world, including Cannes, Sundance and South by Southwest.

One of MIT Media Lab’s brightest minds bringing the physical back into digital worlds

Being a graduate student at MIT’s Media Lab is generally a solid prerequisite for assuming someone has brains and John Kestner is no exception. His two new projects explore relationships with digital media, attempting to anchor online interactions in the physical world.

Kestner’s project Tableau harkens back to when communication and social connections took place in person with a conversation, or high-five. Tableau, which looks like your standard handsome nightstand, connects the high tech with the classic feeling of receiving a letter from a friend at camp. Essentially the device is an Internet-enabled printer and scanner that connects to a Twitter feed. When a photo appears in your feed, the Tableau prints it out and drops it into the drawer to be collected at the user’s leisure. If you want to send a message, you simply put it in the drawer and the Tableau scans it and publishes in to your feed. Constructed from reclaimed materials, it only uses Zink paper, a printing medium that requires no printer cartridges. The Tableau can currently be seen on exhibit at the Saint Etienne International Design Biennale.

Kestner’s other project, which involved some fellow Media Lab cohorts, he calls the Proverbial Wallet. Based around the disconnect between the user and the intangible numbers of a bank account, the Proverbial Wallet interprets numerical data into a physical stimulus using Bluetooth technology. Each of the three prototypes serve to alert the user of different scenarios they might encounter financially.

The Bumblebee contains a vibrating motor. Every time your bank processes a transaction, the wallet will buzz. If your wallet buzzes and you aren’t handing your credit card to a cashier or its not time to auto-pay your bills then it is probably a good idea to check for fraudulent activity.

Designed to protect the user from themselves, the Mother Bear wallet becomes easier to open when you’re flush, locking itself up like a clam when your balance gets low. You can also program it to abide by a monthly budget to discourage unnecessary spending.

The Peacock is ideal for anyone who wants to showboat how many zeros were on their last check. The wallet will swell or shrink depending on your account balance. If you deposit that fat check on Friday before going out for the night the Peacock will reflect your good fortune and potentially attract some lovely companions.

Both of Kestner’s projects take an interesting look at how we relate to our media and our money. Most modern users take for granted the giant virtual gap between information and the physical self. Kestner’s work remind us how communication used to take place, the value of physically interacting with the virtual world and why all of that might be really important.

As Stockholm’s art and design schools prepare to open their doors for annual graduation shows, there are already ripples of exciting suggesting that this year holds many delights for the viewer. Last year the city was outraged at the work of Konstfack student Anna Odell, whose video work documented her own fake suicide attempt.

This year however, much of the buzz is as a result of clever thinking instead of hyperbole. Linda Shamma Östrand is a student at Konstfack whose cerebral work takes in an exploration of mixed cultural identity or, in her words, the notions of being a hybrid. The vehicle demonstrating her chosen topic is her self-bred hybrid frog (pictured top), Oophaga vicentei x Oophaga pumilio (pictured below left and right). The frog’s scientific name contains the “x” to indicate that it is a hybrid variety with the names on either side denoting the species of its origin.

“As a child of parents from different countries, I am always compelled to describe my parents’ origin instead of my own when people ask me where I come from,” Östrand explains on her mini-site. “It led me to wonder whether I am bearing a seemingly unknown problem. By breeding a hybrid fertile frog and simultaneously writing a diary of reflections in my everyday life, I am exploring hybrid disciplines in an attempt to understand the hybrid concept,” she clarifies.

Some critics argue that emerging students are losing their poignancy and relevance due to aspirations of grandeur and ego-driven projects. Through her unique frog and inward-looking questioning of identity, Östrand has given reason for the viewer to talk about her conceptual, didactic art without damning its visual medium.

Photo of Oophaga vicentei by Thomas Ostrowski; Oophaga pumilio by Steven M. Whitfield

The mythical land Lemuria is a lost continent whose inhabitants were mentally pure hermaphrodites, ethereal spirits, and able to shape their bodies using only their minds. The knitwear project bearing the same name reflects the spirit of the vanished land, with each single piece organically transforming into multiple new shapes and styles. The Tuta Mucca dress from the current Libero Arbitrio collection easily goes from a strapless harem pants singlet to a longsleeve dress depending on how it’s worn, with six combinations in all.

The origin of the family-run business also has a unique story. Founder Susanna Gioia tells CH that over the past several decades Lemuria “has been producing knitwear for all the leading Italian fashion houses, working with 30 local families. Unfortunately many of the big names are moving production abroad or have radically changed their budgets. So we have bravely decided to apply our knowledge into an experimental project.” Fortunately the experiment succeeded and worldwide recognition followed, with acknowledgment from Vogue to The Independent.

Made in Italy, the quality of Lemuria clothes is absolute. Holding and touching them is quite an experience, because of their softness and steadiness, but also because they appear to be designed for aliens with three or more sleeves, geometric shapes, asymmetries and overall strange cuts. Gioia acknowledges that at first it can seem complex “but every piece comes with a DVD full of video tutorials explaining in the simplest way how to use them.”

See more images in the gallery below.