0:00:17.090,0:00:26.530
(upbeat electronic music)

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Turrell: Generally, we use light.

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We don't really pay much [br]attention to the light itself.

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(quiet electronic music continues)

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That's my interest.

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This fascination with light [br]and how we come to light.

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Woman: When you really start to look, [br]then you sort of lose yourself.

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Man: Yeah.

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Woman: And that's when it [br]becomes sort of disorienting.

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Man: Um-hmm. Ah.[br]Woman: Whoa.

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Woman: It's sort of an escape.[br]Man: Yeah.

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Woman: From everything that's above

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with the bustling of the streets

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and 'cause it's right under the street

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and you wouldn't think [br]it'd be so nice down here.

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Turrell: I had this thought to just [br]bring the cosmos closer down

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to the space where we occupy.

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(peaceful guitar music)

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It's always something to work [br]with light in the outdoors.

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I had spent seven months [br]flying in the western states.

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And that was how I found [br]Roden Crater,

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which is on the western [br]edge of the Painted Desert.

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You know, it had to sort of [br]meet this criteria of a certain height

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and it's nice that it was [br]away from other ones.

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But I think the important thing [br]is just this kind of sense

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of power that each space [br]or each place has.

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So, the place felt right.

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And I wanted a bowl shape that [br]was raised above the plain.

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That was important, [br]so that you come up the space

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and then you go through this [br]and you see the shaping of sky.

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And then when you come out, [br]there's actually a shaping of Earth.

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(peaceful electronic music)

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(plane motor running)

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The crater is a wonderful example

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of blending hard science, of physical [br]science, with art and vice versa.

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Celestial events will be [br]apparent at the crater site

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that you won't be able to see

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and only be able to see [br]in a few other spots on the earth.

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To have a sort of new, [br]eight-and-half-minute old,

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light from the sun,

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to feel it physically,[br]almost as we taste things,

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this is where you can [br]work with light like that.

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Also, I wanted to use the [br]very fine qualities of light.

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I wanted to gather starlight

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that was from outside [br]the planetary system,

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which would be older [br]than our solar system.

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And you can gather that light

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and physically have that in place.

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So, it's physically present [br]to feel this old light.

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This is the opening to the crater.

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So, it's an elliptical sky space.

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The space is really [br]'take you up into the sky',

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and, certainly, the events [br]from the sky come through them

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down into the crater.

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So, this opening up into the [br]sky is something I really like.

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(ladder clanging)

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I met Jim Turrell about 15 years ago.

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Jim is a big thinker, thinks big.

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He had an idea to point a tunnel [br]through the crater wall

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to face the southwestern part of the sky

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where the moon would appear [br]every 18.6 years,

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a cycle called the sorrows [br]or a lower lunar standstill.

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The cycle of the moon [br]has been known

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since the days of the [br]Babylonian records.

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So it goes back eight, 10,000 years.

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And you can actually see this,

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the image of this down inside [br]the sun and moon space,

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but then you'd have about 20 [br]minutes to walk up to the top

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and actually see it set on the horizon.

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(ethereal music)

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But the strangest thing is [br]that we have made real

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an actual illusion. [br]That is, when we camp out,

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we think that the sun [br]rises in the east,

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or if we're at night,

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it looks as though [br]the stars come up in the east

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and move over us [br]and go down in the west.

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Actually, we are turning the opposite.

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We're on the earth that's [br]turning the opposite way,

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but we don't feel that.

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So in the north space,

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I've removed all reference to horizon

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so your field of reference [br]are the stars.

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And so what happens is [br]you feel yourself

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to be moving, almost tipping.

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So if you're sitting back [br]in here, in this seat here,

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you actually will see [br]the rotation of the earth

0:06:01.800,0:06:03.781
and you can feel that.

0:06:08.230,0:06:10.960
(peaceful music)

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James had a lifetime goal [br]of building a meeting house

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that was really used [br]as a meeting house.

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So, when he heard that Houston [br]wanted to build a meeting house

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and was in the process of doing [br]that and raising money,

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he offered to donate his art.

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Well, for me, that was kind of the [br]meeting house I always wanted to see.

0:06:47.290,0:06:50.252
I mean, it's a very traditional form [br]except it's convertible.

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The top opens and [br]it makes the sky space,

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where sky is really [br]brought down to you

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in the space where you sit.

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You're never quite prepared [br]for what the light

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is going to do to you [br]and what the interaction

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with nature and [br]the sublime quiet will do

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when you come into a place like this

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and just simply slow down.

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(ethereal music)

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Being a lifetime Quaker,

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we felt strongly that James [br]would not design anything

0:07:41.600,0:07:43.981
that was not appropriate [br]for our worship.

0:07:45.884,0:07:50.320
We are hoping that our meeting [br]house becomes an ecumenical place

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where people could find inner peace.

0:08:02.080,0:08:05.507
I think I was maybe five or six, [br]and my grandmother would [br]

0:08:05.507,0:08:08.294
begin taking me in and sitting me [br]in the Quaker meeting house,

0:08:08.294,0:08:09.858
and we would just sit in there together.

0:08:10.440,0:08:13.720
There's this time when you [br]no longer are in first day of school,

0:08:13.880,0:08:16.900
but you actually come [br]and join the meeting.

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And I remember I tried to, you know, [br]ask you my grandmother, you know,

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"What, what are we doing? [br]What are, what am I supposed to do?"

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And she said, "Just wait. [br]We're going inside to greet the light."

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And I like that.

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This idea to go inside, [br]to find that light within,

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literally as well as figuratively,

0:08:42.890,0:08:45.933
and so I was very interested [br]in this sort of literal look at it.

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Of course, I'm still trying to figure [br]out exactly what she meant.

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(laughs)

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My daughter was born when I first [br]had the idea for the crater.

0:09:01.040,0:09:04.920
Went to college and university, [br]got her medical degree and

0:09:04.920,0:09:06.546
now is a doctor, and is married.

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And I'm still not finished [br]with the crater.

0:09:09.830,0:09:12.398
So, I've gotta get along [br]here and get this thing done.

0:09:22.248,0:09:23.920
(footsteps)

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To keep the crater,

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I had to go get a loan [br]from farm credit

0:09:28.240,0:09:30.440
and really get involved in ranching

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'cause they wouldn't loan money [br]on vacant land.

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So suddenly, I have a [br]one-million-dollar mortgage

0:09:36.520,0:09:38.640
and this is not interesting to my wife.

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And she felt I was mortgaging [br]our children's future.

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(horse neighing)[br]Did you hear that buddy?

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(galloping)

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We run almost separate operations.

0:09:50.240,0:09:52.480
The cattle are my department

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and the new art is his department.

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Payday's once a year. It's in [br]the fall, when you sell the calves.

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Good boys. Good boys.

0:09:59.440,0:10:02.840
And things can go pretty well [br]or they can go pretty sour

0:10:02.840,0:10:06.354
depending on the price of cattle [br]at that time.

0:10:09.160,0:10:12.320
Jim doesn't stay real happy [br]when the price of cattle's low.

0:10:12.320,0:10:13.709
Well, imagine that. (laughs)

0:10:17.515,0:10:20.520
Turrell: People often ask me [br]how much this crater costs

0:10:20.520,0:10:23.750
and you know, it costs me [br]two marriages and a relationship.

0:10:27.400,0:10:31.170
Those are the places where you feel [br]the greatest discouragement,

0:10:31.170,0:10:34.280
as you see it's sometimes [br]hard for others to follow

0:10:34.280,0:10:37.280
what you think is [br]the natural course of things

0:10:37.280,0:10:38.977
and how to get something done.

0:10:42.228,0:10:46.558
(upbeat music)

0:10:50.880,0:10:55.520
If you look at the horizon, [br]it's a milky, cloudy type of view,

0:10:55.520,0:10:57.520
but as you go higher in the sky,

0:10:57.520,0:11:02.640
the sky becomes a uniform blue, [br]maybe with clouds.

0:11:02.640,0:11:05.440
But if you can be in a well,[br]so to speak,

0:11:05.440,0:11:07.400
or in a crater like Roden,

0:11:07.400,0:11:12.301
you see no contrast with the [br]depth of the sky and your view.

0:11:13.040,0:11:16.240
So you realize its closeness.

0:11:16.240,0:11:20.920
And sometimes, if you're [br]conscious enough, you can,

0:11:20.920,0:11:23.658
you'll discover that [br]you're in the atmosphere.

0:11:24.240,0:11:27.200
You're not separated from [br]the sky at night.

0:11:27.200,0:11:29.920
And even during the day [br]you have this feeling

0:11:29.920,0:11:32.441
that you're one with the universe.

0:11:33.720,0:11:36.240
(music slows)

0:11:37.680,0:11:40.600
You know, when you read a book,[br]you're often so involved

0:11:40.600,0:11:41.720
in the space generated [br]by the author

0:11:41.720,0:11:44.640
that whatever happens in front [br]of you disappears.

0:11:44.640,0:11:45.360
People pass by.

0:11:45.360,0:11:47.160
You don't even notice them.

0:11:47.160,0:11:50.410
So you've paid the price of admission [br]and you've entered that space.

0:11:51.040,0:11:53.000
A lot of people come to art [br]and they look at it,

0:11:53.000,0:11:55.540
and this is one of the problems [br]in contemporary art.

0:11:55.540,0:11:59.680
And so, they don't actually enter the [br]realm that the artist was involved in.

0:11:59.680,0:12:03.620
We have a little more [br]of a distance there.

0:12:04.130,0:12:08.880
And the situation of the journey [br]to the place like Roden Crater,

0:12:08.880,0:12:11.760
the fact that you actually [br]have to do some thing or

0:12:11.760,0:12:14.840
some involvement to have this [br]come over you,

0:12:14.840,0:12:16.320
you have to quiet

0:12:16.320,0:12:19.560
and it actually makes this experience,

0:12:19.560,0:12:21.508
I think, much stronger.

0:12:24.522,0:12:30.432
(ethereal music)

0:12:35.548,0:12:39.278
(rhythmic music)

0:12:57.662,0:13:01.312
To order a two-tape set of art:21, [br]Art in the 21st Century,

0:13:01.320,0:13:04.406
on videocassette, or the [br]companion book to the program,

0:13:04.653,0:13:08.873
call PBS Home Video, at [br]1-800-Play-PBS. [br]

0:13:12.287,0:13:15.957
To learn more about art:21, [br]Art in the 21st Century,

0:13:15.957,0:13:18.188
and to download the free [br]teachers' guide,

0:13:18.188,0:13:22.311
please visit PBS online, at PBS.org.

0:13:35.497,0:13:36.777
(bell chimes)