The ARoS Aarhus Art Museum is delighted to announce details of a €40 million extension project, entitled The Next Level, in collaboration with American artist James Turrell.
The extension is planned to open to the public in 2021 and will contain several new facilities including a 1,400 metre² subterranean gallery and two art installations by Turrell, one of them titled The Dome, a semi-subterranean installation.
The extension is the brainchild of Erlend G. Høyersten, Director of the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, and will be realised in collaboration with Turrell and Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects. This is Turrell’s largest museum project to date.
The Next Level will extend from level 1 of the museum to the forecourt of the neighbouring Officerspladsen square. From outside, the first two underground galleries will be completely hidden, with Turrell’s The Dome elevated nine metres above ground level.
The extension will connect to the existing building, working with the natural flow of the museum, which forms a public bridge between the Aarhus river and the square of the Aarhus Music Hall, an important cultural centre of the city. Colour and light will bring visitors into a series of galleries and exhibition spaces, stretching almost 120 metres below the surface to The Dome.
Measuring 40 metres in diameter and 17 metres in height, The Dome will act as an open-air gallery for performance artists. Turrell is a trained psychologist and has studied mathematics, geology, and astronomy. A common feature of his work is enveloping the visitor in light and colour in a manner that is heavily controlled by the artist.
Erlend G. Høyersten, Director of the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, said: ‘We are delighted to unveil plans for The Next Level and to be working on this ambitious project with James Turrell.
The Next Level will merge art and architecture, and will make the journey through the museum an engaging and enriching experience for the public.” Source by Aros, images Courtesy of SUTTON.