Copyright euroweeklynews
On June 19 2026, Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city, will welcome a landmark unlike any other: ‘As Seen Below – The Dome’, a Skyspace by celebrated artist James Turrell, opens to the public at the ARoS Art Museum. This is no ordinary installation – at 40 metres in diameter and 16 metres tall, it’s Turrell’s largest Skyspace ever built inside a museum. From Underground to the Heavens Visitors will descend through a subtly lit tunnel before arriving in the vast, domed chamber. Turrell’s signature lighting bathes the space in shifting hues, framing the sky through a central oculus. According to the artist, this isn’t just about images – “I am shaping the very experience of seeing,” he says. A Vision Realised This dome culminates ARoS’s decade-long expansion plan, known as ‘The Next Level’, developed in partnership with Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects. As museum director Rebecca Matthews puts it, it will invite visitors to slow down, raise their gaze, and reflect on light, space, and time. Light, Time and Nature in Harmony The installation is particularly evocative at sunrise and sunset, when programmed light sequences align with natural rhythms to create a meditative sense of unity between architecture, sky, and season. Turrell describes this synchronisation as more than effect – it’s a way of making the act of looking itself the work. City Pride, Global Ambition Rabih Azad-Ahmad, Aarhus’ Alderman for Culture, believes this dome will become a new cultural icon: “A dream will come true … Aarhus is about to gain another spectacular attraction of absolute world class.” Mayor Anders Winnerskjold echoes this pride, saying the project strengthens the city’s identity and elevates ARoS’s standing on the international art stage. Turrell, Revisited For Turrell, this is not just a building – it’s a deep exploration of perception. “The architecture brings the sky close,” he reflects, transforming the simple act of looking into a shared, deeply human experience. Looking Ahead When ‘As Seen Below’ opens in June 2026, it will mark more than the completion of a building project: it will be a moment of collective pause. For Aarhus, it’s a milestone in cultural ambition; for visitors, a space to re-encounter light, sky, and self.
