The Irish Sky Garden Crater

The Irish Sky Garden Crater is strange thing in first glance. The massive in scale landscape composition was created by American artist James Turrell. This exclusive minimalistic garden is situated in the Irish county of Cork. It is a kind of natural observatory, and anyone can become a visitor. However, the artist’s concept implies privacy, surveillance and meditative immersion. You won’t believe that this is an artificial landmark; however, it mightily attracts the eye! James Turrell refers to the pleiad of the Californian conceptualists, in the late 1960s have declared that an object as a piece of art was a passed stage. They started to develop space projects based on the optical effects.

They were interested, in the phenomenon of the direct or the flowing in time visual perception, feelings of pure sensory experience and instantaneous discovery through the monitoring process, and a mechanical search of the facet where the reality differs from the visibility. Therefore, the Irish Sky Garden is one of a conceptual series of installations formed on the principle of “open sky” called Skyspaces. The essence of the installation offers visitors to get inside through the black tunnel, going towards the bright light, symbolizes birth and gives the spectators a charge of optimism. The Irish crater has depth of 13 meters.

The henge type stone arch signifying the first transition or birth, from a gladed wood with a pond through a long womb like structural passage before a steep climb up some steps into the still and silent, oval, bowl shaped interior which measures 50 mtrs x 25.  Thus, upon entrance, the bottom of the crater has a stone in the center, and one can actually lie on the stone and watch the horizon, appreciate and enjoy the “celestial vault”. The walls of the crater overlap your peripheral vision, and thus it emphasizes the “infinity and variability of the sky.” James Turrell considered to be the greatest American Land Art Artist, actually likes the manipulation of light, because it is his main tool and material. The talented artist has turned the crater into a huge naked – eye observatory, has made the studio from the sky. His mastermind lies in the fact that he sees the beauty in the simplicity of the idea and the complexity of the construction at the same time. Every element has been prudently designed to seem natural.

Therefore, not a one element was left to chance everything was done by human hands. Such attention to details shows that each item was performed due to the large labor and experience of the author. Thus, in contrast to the background of soft green grass and the evenly clipped top edge of the crater, visitors can see only the Irish sky. It is a promise that visitors can enjoy the afternoon time or the nocturnal sky without the slightest interference. It is presumed that a very small group of people is expected to attend the Irish Sky Garden Crater, and ideally it should be just two people. The stone plinth in the center, the “Vault Purchase”, according to the inkling of James Turrell, was intended for two people. It would be romantic and dreamy to come here and relish the moments with your loved ones. Don’t you think so? The acoustics are such that not a sound can be heard from outside and visitors are encouraged to explore in silence. The Sky Garden is very different, clever and beautiful, would normally to ‘go see it’ but in this instance it's ‘go feel it’! Source: CP