“Plato’s Cave and the Light Within,” a special evening lecture by James Turrell with… “Plato’s Cave and the Light Within,” a special evening lecture by James Turrell with reception to follow

Tonight, 7:30 p.m., McConomy Auditorium

Carnegie Mellon University’s University Center

Free

Look and learn: Renowned installation artist James Turrell has been inviting viewers to experience their perceptions with light, space and time for decades. His fascination with light – fascination with looking – has taken him on a lifetime journey of exploration culminating in a giant observatory he carved from Roden Crater, a natural cinder cone volcano located at the edge of the Painted Desert in northern Arizona, where visitors can witness the changing light above. Turrell, a pilot, discovered the land while flying and purchased it in 1979 for $6 an acre. Not a lot to pay for finding the light.

Growing up in California, Turrell’s interest in light began at a young age when his grandmother would invite him to “greet the light” at Quaker meetings. He also developed interests in three dimensional and architectural work and spent hours crafting models. At Pomona College, he studied mathematics and perceptual psychology, the science of understanding how we experience the world. As he got older, Turrell’s curiosities converged into a desire to use light itself as an art medium.

He created rooms with perfectly smooth walls, painted perfectly white, and sealed them off from outdoor light. Inside these experimental spaces, he would project light and images with various qualities to observe and study the light. Later, Turrell experimented with cutting holes in the walls to create frames around other objects, and studied how the edges of the frame were perceived against the background.

Turrell created three of the permanent installations at Pittsburgh’s Mattress Factory; Turrell’s special exhibition, “Into the Light,” will be on display until April 3.

“Plato’s Cave and the Light Within,” a free lecture by Turrell, takes place tonight at 7:30 at McConomy Auditorium in the University Center at Carnegie Mellon University. The lecture is co-presented by the Mattress Factory and the Center for the Arts in Society.