See! Colour

You know how it is; you’re in Denmark with the Danish Lighting Society helping to plan a Guerrilla Lighting event so you stop off in Sweden to see the Turrell exhibition at Järna.

We got up at the crack of dawn in Copenhagen, got to the airport and hopped on a short flight to Stockholm. We picked up a hire car (a Skoda – the shame of it!) and drove two hours to the middle of Swedish nowhere.

Organised by Kulturforum Järna, See! Colour is more than just the setting for several large Turrell installations, it is also an interesting and hands-on insight into the simple experiments created by Goethe 200 years ago as part of the development of his Colour Theory; an exhibition of work by Hilda Am Klimt; and an open invitation into Järna’s Steiner community, with its characteristic buildings and its beautiful garden park, it seems like a very inspiring environment to live in.

Driving for two hours along a Swedish motorway in a Skoda and, at the same time, arguing with Sharon, heightens anticipation and, to be honest, we both expected to be underwhelmed (that’s what happens when you get old and jaded).

We were met by one of the organisers Bengt Ahlin, who waited for us to arrive and gave us an insight into the process they went through to make such a high-profile exhibition happen in a really short space of time.

The Turrell contribution is split into several installations and we started with the installation called A Tall Glass and then booked our 20 minute slot in the Dark Space for just after lunch. The Tall Glass is exactly what you would expect if you have seen this type of Turrel installation before – mesmerising, and, in this case, made better due the fact that the whole exhibition was quite empty.

The main installation, Ganzfeld, was a huge white room of light entered by descending a white staircase and was easily the highlight of the experience. The scale of the space and intensity of the light was mind-blowing; it was the visual equivalent of having your breath taken away.

The dark experience was fun as we went in together and sat in total darkness for 20 minutes saying “Can you see that?”, “I think I can see something” and “Is that it there?”.

Bindu Shards is an experience where you lay on a bed and were then wheeled inside a large integrating sphere where you stare upwards at the patterns created by colour changing light positioned behind you. It’s mildly trippy and quite relaxing but neither had the amazing impact of the main installation.

It’s running until 2 October and well worth the detour – the main installation has to be experienced – but the overall setting makes this exhibition something really special.

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