Had the pleasure to see James Turell’s exhibition yesterday evening that features a work he started in the dessert in Arizona in 1970.

Autonomous Structures, as you can see in the picture above, are chambers designed for experiencing visual phenomena and connecting visitors with the movements of the cosmos.

As he explained, “Autonomous Structures are just containers for the light; the art is in the experience of the viewer.” Made between 1989 and 2010, the models evolved from spaces Turrell built and designed within the Roden Crater and, like the crater’s chambers, contain Skypaces (apertures to the sky carved into an enclosed space) or Ganzfeld pieces (unmodulated field of light that dissolve architectural space).

Influenced by the design of ancient observatories, including Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu in Peru, and the Mayan and Egyptian pyramids, this amazing structures are simultaneously ancient and futuristic.