There I sat, in total silence, on the campus of Houston’s Rice University, surrounded by dozens of other people just staring at the ceiling. But this wasn’t any normal ceiling.
It was equal parts lights show, meditation and spaceship, slowly changing colors and seemingly transporting all of us into another dimension. After 40 minutes, the light show ended, and I felt like I’d been given a brain massage—a welcome side effect to witnessing the glory of the Twilight Epiphany Skyspace.
This bit of artistic madness was created by James Turrell, an internationally acclaimed master of color, light and messing with your eyes. In the daylight, this artistic installation built in 2012 looks like a giant UFO hovering over a Mayan pyramid. But at sunrise and sunset, the UFO fires up its engines and lifts off. It’s currently closed but will reopen in late spring.
I rolled onto Rice’s campus about 20 minutes before sunset. The experience is totally free and open to the public, and there was a docent on-site to answer questions. “So, we just go sit and stare?” I asked. “Yes,” she answered. “You’ll know when it starts.”
At first, I felt a bit uncomfortable sitting around with total strangers staring at a blank white surface. But as the daylight faded, the lights began to shine and we all drifted into a hypnotic trance. There were neons and purples, greens and reds, each fading slowly into the next.
Was I looking at the orange hues of a Texas sunset, or was it just a vibrant projection? Hard to say, as the edges of the giant square seemed to blend seamlessly into the surrounding sky.
Every now and then, a giggle would break the silence and remind me that this was indeed a very strange collective experience. However, sometimes the weirdest art is the most wonderful of all.
