On 19 June 2026, ARoS will open As Seen Below – The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell.  

The artwork will be world-renowned artist James Turrell's largest Skyspace in a museum context – a monumental work that invites you to look up at the sky and into yourself. With the work, ARoS completes its historical vision, The Next Level.  

"With As Seen Below, I am shaping the very experience of seeing rather than simply delivering an image. The architecture brings the sky close, so you recognise that the act of looking is the work itself," says James Turrell.  

The title As Seen Below was given by James Turrell to the large, dome-shaped artwork, which measures 16 metres in height and 40 metres in diameter. You arrive via a subterranean, light-filled corridor before stepping into a large domed hall, where Turrell's precisely calibrated light bathes the space in colour and makes the opening to the sky appear both boundless and close. 

An immersive and contemplative experience 

Along the inside of the dome are seats that invite you to slow down, spend time together and observe how colours and light affect our senses. 

The experience in As Seen Below unfolds particularly at sunrise and sunset, where timed light sessions anchor the visit in the rhythm of nature and the changing seasons, reminding us of our relationship with nature, the sky and our shared planet. 

The light sessions transform the dome: colours change, the space evolves, and you are enveloped in a meditative, sensory journey where perception is challenged and the boundary between natural and artificial light dissolves, shifting our sense of time and place. The aim is for each session to become a sensory ritual – a place where nature and art merge, and where the first and last light of the day becomes a masterpiece in itself. 

James Turrell, As Seen Below – The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell. Photo: Mads Smidstrup © ARoS, 2025. From James Turrells visit in As Seen Below, June 2025.

"We are proud that our museum will be home to James Turrell's most significant Skyspace to date – an extraordinary work that invites visitors to slow down, lift their gaze and experience light, time and space in deeply moving ways. This is not only a remarkable artwork for ARoS, but also a new cultural landmark for Aarhus," says Rebecca Matthews, Museum Director at ARoS.  

About James Turrell

James Turrell (born 1943 in Los Angeles) is one of the greatest artists of our time and a pioneer of the Light and Space movement. Since the 1960s, Turrell – who is himself a trained psychologist and pilot – has explored the different qualities of light and experimented with how it can expand our understanding of the world. 

Turrell became a pilot at a young age and has spent considerable time in the air, where he became fascinated by light, the colours of the sky and the nature of perception. He has previously described flying as a meditative experience, where one becomes absorbed by the sky and its infinity, and how light and colours change depending on altitude, time of day and weather conditions. These observations have helped shape his understanding of space and light and influenced his ability to create works that play with our perception of reality. 

For more than five decades, Turrell has explored how light can shape our consciousness, and with the opening of As Seen Below, he unites the experience of light, sky, space and time in this unique, dome-shaped masterpiece in Aarhus. 

Turrell has exhibited his works in art museums around the world, and his monumental, immersive installations can be experienced in over 26 countries. Since 2004, his light installation Milkrun III (2002) has been part of the ARoS collection, and with the opening of As Seen Below, ARoS' position as one of the world's leading museums for installation art is firmly cemented. 

A long-standing vision becomes reality 

Together with the subterranean exhibition space Salling Galleriet, which opened in June 2025, and a new outdoor Art Square, As Seen Below is the culmination of ARoS' long-standing vision The Next Level. 

The project has been under development for more than 10 years and from the very beginning involved a vision of adding a new artwork to the ARoS collection by an artist working in large scale to create unique environments. 

Three museum directors – Jens Erik Sørensen, Erlend Høyersten, and Rebecca Matthews – have contributed to the concept and realization of the project with Schmidt Hammer Lassen as architect and consultant in close collaboration with Aarhus Municipality as building owner and developer.    

The Next Level has been realised with generous support from the Salling Foundations, the New Carlsberg Foundation, Aarhus Municipality, ARoS and a private, anonymous donation.  

We look forward to welcoming you to ARoS 2.0!