Nasher Sculpture Center

The skyspace provides a quiet, meditative setting in which one concentrates on the view of the sky through a 9 ½ x 9 ½ ft. opening in the ceiling.  The rim of the aperture is knife-edge thin, which helps heighten the perception of the sky’s proximity.  It often appears that the sky has been drawn like a sheet tightly across the opening.  Italian limestone benches line the interior plaster walls of the skyspace.  They are heated during the winter, and the skyspace is air-conditioned in warmer months, providing a comfortable viewing environment year round.

Washing the interior walls of the skyspace with various combinations of red, green, blue, and yellow light, Turrell conditions the eye in a way that affects one’s perception of the sky’s color, distance, and density.  The sky seems to take on extraordinary colors and, framed by the knife-edge rim of the aperture, appears extremely dense and flat.  At sunrise and sunset, when changes in the coloration of the sky are most rapid and pronounced, the experience can be especially mesmerizing.  Just before sunrise, the lights inside the skyspace begin to change gradually, slowly shifting the perceptible hues and tones.  At sunset the changes are more dramatic, eliciting vibrant colors and sharper contrasts.  The light program becomes more active after sunset, cycling now more rapidly through a variety of colors, some seemingly impossible.  The entire system is coordinated by an astrological clock that constantly monitors the changing times of sunrise and sunset at the specific geographic location of the skyspace.  The interior lights of the skyspace do not normally change between sunrise and sunset.  However, if a photo sensor registers the external ambient light below a certain level during this period, it triggers a brief, quickly paced "storm" cycle of saturated colors and abrupt lighting changes. 

Turrell has programmed 10 different light cycles for the skyspace and is planning a total of 12.  With such a variety of lighting cycles playing against constantly changing atmospheric conditions, Tending, (Blue) displays a seemingly endless variety of moods and experiences.