James Turrell: Leading
Turrell's 94th Skyspace, the only one built into an active K-12 school
James Turrell's Leading has been permanently installed on the sixth floor of Friends Seminary, a Quaker school in Manhattan. The artist created a meeting room whose roof opens to the sky and bathes the space in a spectrum of shifting radiant color, with visitors reclining on teak benches surrounding the room's perimeter. Leading is Turrell's 94th Skyspace and the only one attached to an active K-12 school. Turrell, a practicing Quaker, once worshipped at the 15th Street Meetinghouse, now part of the Friends Seminary campus, and was invited by Head of School Robert "Bo" Lauder to create a site-specific work for the school. The installation is open to the public on the last Friday of each month that Friends Seminary is in session, on a first-come, first-served basis, with free admission.
Organizer
Friends SeminaryVenue
Friends Seminary
Category
Installation ArtTag
Site SpecificStart date
March 1st, 2024
End date
June 25th, 2027
Audience Role
Visitors join a first-come, first-served public viewing of a Skyspace meeting room on the school's sixth floor, reclining on benches around the perimeter as the roof opens to changing colored light and sky.
Ages: All ages
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Years on EI
About Friends Seminary
Friends Seminary is an independent K-12 Quaker school in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, founded in 1786. It is the oldest continuously coeducational school in New York City and the only Quaker school in Manhattan. In 2024, Friends Seminary unveiled Leading, a permanent James Turrell Skyspace on its sixth floor — the only Skyspace attached to an active K-12 school.