James Turrell
The Guggenheim washed me in violet, red, and yellow hues. And then I almost threw up. Sexy.
Guggenheim.
What you see here is an illegal (I didn't know. The museum usually allows pictures from the ground floor of the atrium!) shot looking upward, toward the skylit domed roof of Wright's famous round building, only the light source at the top is artificial and part of the James Turrell installation. The installation is a beast, fitting just inside the perimeter of the museum's rotunda that, as some of you may know already, is formed by a long looping ramp that wraps around to the top. The installation, in other words, was hugely tall.
Despite its height, with all the people inside the newly narrowed width of an atrium area which I was accustomed to being much wider, I felt uncomfortable. When the feeling of nausea intensified instead of dissipating as it usually does, I made my way to the exit hoping to explore the space behind, on the ramps of the museum. That's when I found myself standing in a tiny walk space created by the exterior of the Turrell installation on my left and sterile-looking white walls to my right. I felt like I was trapped inside a windowless sanitarium. People were disoriented, unsure of where to go with no signs to direct visitors. My stomach flipped, I tasted something that I would have liked to stay put in my stomach, and gave into the reality that I really must be claustrophobic. So out into the summer sun I escaped.
If you don't mind closed, windowless spaces, this could be a very cool experience. It's around until the end of September, but if you ask me, I can't wait until the museum reverts back to its open atrium!
As a rule, I am not claustrophobic, but I think this would throw it over the edge for me.
ReplyDeleteI once threw up in public, just barely making it to the trash can on the subway berth. The physical discomfort of the act itself topped with the dirty looks from strangers who (understandably!) did not want to be a part of my experience, was uh, not fun.
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