MASS MoCA and James Turrell announce that a new Skyspace – titled C.A.V.U. – will open on the museum’s campus on May 29, 2021. C.A.V.U. will augment one of the world’s most comprehensive experiences of installations by the artist while realizing a vision the artist had when visiting the museum’s campus in 1987. The installation will join a long-term exhibition of Turrell works at MASS MoCA, which includes one work from each of the six decades of the artist’s career. MASS MoCA will also present a focused exhibition of Turrell’s ceramics —Lapsed Quaker Ware— from May 29, 2021 to October 30, 2022.
Turrell’s Skyspaces are apertures in the ceilings of rooms or buildings that frame the sky as a canvas with infinite depth. Seemingly bringing the sky closer to the viewer, Skyspaces function as naked-eye observatories of the sky which encourage a focused contemplation of light and space. Turrell created his first Skyspace in 1974, and today over 80 exist in public and private collections worldwide. C.A.V.U. will be the artist’s largest free-standing Skyspace piece to date — 40 feet in diameter and 40 feet high.