Twilight Epiphany (2012), The James Turrell Skyspace at the Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion at Rice University. Photo: Florian Holzherr. Image courtesy Rice University.

About

INFO

Located adjacent to the Shepherd School of Music on the Rice University campus is the Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion, James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany Skyspace.

Built in 2012, the pyramidal structure accommodates 120 people between two levels. Twilight Epiphany is acoustically engineered to host musical performances and to act as a laboratory for Shepherd School of Music students. Constructed of grass, concrete, stone, and composite steel, the structure is equipped with an LED light sequence that projects onto the ceiling and through an aperture in the 72-foot square knife-edge roof during sunrise and at sunset. Turrell's composition of light complements the natural light present at twilight and transforms the Skyspace into a locale for experiencing beauty and reflecting on the surrounding campus and the natural world. 

The Twilight Epiphany light sequence can be viewed every day at sunrise and sunset. The sunrise light sequence begins approximately 40 minutes before sunrise; we recommend you arrive an hour before sunrise. The Sunset light sequence begins about 10 minutes before sunset. Each sequence lasts approximately 40 minutes. Sunrise and sunset times can be found here. 

Twilight Epiphany was made possible by Suzanne Deal Booth, Rice alumna and member of the Rice Public Art Committee. 

The James Turrell Skyspace Docent Program ensures the long-term stewardship of the Twilight Epiphany Skyspace. Docents are current Rice University students who serve as ambassadors to the Rice community about the artwork and its history. Docents are on-site during each sunset light sequence. For more information about becoming a Skyspace docent, please contact skyspace@rice.edu.

For press inquiries please contact Erin Rolfs, erin.rolfs@rice.edu.

Click here to find out more about the public art on Rice's campus and the free exhibitions and events at the Moody Center for the Arts. 

Visit

HOURS 

Open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Note that rehearsals and dance performances from April 16 - April 19, 2024 will limit access to the Skyspace before the sunset light sequence. The public is invited to attend the performances featuring choreographers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener and enjoy the sunset sequence that follows.

 

LOCATION, PARKING, TIMING, SEATING

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VISITOR POLICIES

The Twilight Epiphany Skyspace is free and open to the public every day.


The Skyspace structure is open and available to the public throughout the day. Light sequences occur daily at sunrise and sunset. To experience the Twilight Epiphany sunset light sequence, simply walk up. It is free and open to the public. Please arrive 10-15 minutes early to guarantee your seat. Visitors are subject to Skyspace guidelines at all times when in and around the structure.

For groups larger than 10, that require special assistance, please contact skyspace@rice.edu. 

Reservations are not required for entry. Please walk up and take an available seat. 

 

LOCATION & DIRECTIONS:

The Skyspace is located on the Rice University campus. Please consult the campus map for the nearest campus entrance numbers (8 & 18) and the nearest parking area (West Lot 2). Although there is no physical address, the Skyspace is near University at Stockton. Bus routes 26, 27, 34, 73, & 87 and MetroRAIL Red Line all have stops within walking distance. See a Google map for more information. 

PARKING:

Paid visitor parking is available throughout campus.

Central Campus Garage is just north of the Skyspace, east of the music school (underneath the Jones Graduate School of Business). Fees for the use of this lot are: $1 for each 12 minutes, with a $12 daily maximum. Consult an interactive map of the Central Campus Garage here. 

West Lot 2 is located adjacent to the Shepherd School of Music.The easiest way to access West Lot 2 is to enter campus from Entrance #18 off Rice Boulevard and turn right at the parking gates to West Lot 2. Fees for the use of this lot are: $1 for each 20 minutes, with a $12 daily maximum. For visitors with disabilities, accessible parking is available at the south end of the lot. Consult an interactive map of West Lot 2 here.

Greenbriar Lot is west of the stadium at the corner of Greenbriar at University. Fees for the use of this lot are:  $3 flat rate per entry, with a $12 daily maximum. Enter the lot from Greenbriar Blvd at campus entrance 13A or 13B. Consult an interactive map of Greenbriar Lot here.

Payment Instructions: Machines at the entrance gates will instruct the driver to insert a credit card (American Express, VISA, MasterCard or Discover).  When the gate opens, the computer’s “parking meter” begins. Upon leaving, the visitor drives to the exit gate and inserts the same credit card. It is very important to use the same credit card used at entry while exiting, otherwise, the computer will not recognize the card. The gate will open in approximately 2 seconds, at which time the meter stops. The computer calculates the time, briefly shows the amount and automatically bills the credit card. 

TIMING:

We recommend that you arrive 15 minutes prior to the posted times for both Sunrise and Sunset light sequences. Please note: the Sunrise light sequence begins approximately 40 minutes before sunrise. The time noted on the calendar is for the Sunrise light sequence start, not for sunrise itself. The Sunset light sequence begins about 8 - 10 minutes before sunset. Each sequence lasts approximately 40 minutes.

SEATING & WEATHER:

There is bench seating inside the Skyspace in both the upper and lower viewing areas; no chairs or blankets are required. The Skyspace is handicap accessible via the lower viewing area, and there are two spaces for wheelchairs. The light sequence will run rain or shine; please dress accordingly, as the Skyspace is open-air. In the event of lightning, a docent may ask visitors to exit the Skyspace. Click HERE for current Houston area weather.

If you have general questions, please contact skyspace@rice.edu.

 

 

The Skyspace is free and open to the public. In return, we ask that visitors adhere to the following:

Please do not bring food or beverages into the space. Pets, bicycles, and skateboards are strictly prohibited in the Skyspace. The grass hill and light panels in the upper viewing area are part of the installation, do not walk or sit on them. In addition, we ask that you refrain from the use of cameras and/or cell phones during the light performances, as any additional light elements will adversely affect the space’s carefully composed light patterns. The Skyspace is under 24-hour video surveillance to ensure the safety of those who visit the space, and the preservation of the Skyspace itself. 

 

The Artist

ABOUT JAMES TURRELL

For more than half a century, American artist James Turrell (b. 1943) has used light, space, and the sky to engage viewers with the real wonder and perceived limits of human perception. Erected in 2012, Twilight Epiphany, the James Turrell Skyspace at the Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion at Rice University, is one of the artist's largest works and is his 73rd worldwide. It is also the first Skyspace to be engineered for acoustics, both for live performances and for electronic music. 

Turrell’s work has been the subject of more than 150 solo exhibitions worldwide. Since 1972 he has been transforming Roden Crater, a natural cinder volcano situated in Arizona’s Painted Desert, into a large-scale artwork. The artist's permanent installations are on view at the Guggenheim Museum and MoMA P.S.1 in New York City; the University of Texas at Austin; the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; the Panza Collection in Varese, Italy, and in some of the most significant public and private collections in the world. Turrell is the recipient of several prestigious awards in art and architecture, including the National Medal of Arts, the MacArthur Fellowship, and awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the American Academy in Rome, among many other significant achievements. The artist has two other major projects in Houston, the Quaker Live Oak Meetinghouse and “The Light Inside,” a site-specific, neon and ambiently lit interior installation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The artist lives and works in Flagstaff, Arizona.

 

 

The Commission

SUZANNE DEAL BOOTH, PATRON

"The Skyspace will contribute to Rice students and all who visit here as a source of contemplation, interaction and wonder. It will ideally become a part of their daily life—an everyday experience—as I fully believe art, rather than being contained, constrained and rarified, should be about discovering the special and sublime in our everyday lives."
– Rice University Alumna, Trustee, and Skyspace Patron, Suzanne Deal Booth ‘77

Twilight Epiphany, a Skyspace by American artist James Turrell, represents a major milestone in Rice Public Art’s efforts to bring site-specific artworks to the Rice University campus. Propelling the public art initiative has been an important part of President David Leebron’s, “A Vision For Rice University’s Second Century,” that includes a 10-point plan for the future. In this Call to Conversation, President Leebron both echoes and builds upon the founding vision of Edgar Odell Lovett.

Sharing this vision is alumna, Trustee and Art Committee member, Suzanne Deal Booth, who has a long history with Rice. Deal Booth’s involvement began when she was an art history student at Rice and assisted art collector and philanthropist Dominique de Menil. This early opportunity exposed Deal Booth to the value of cultural patronage.  While working towards her master’s degree at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, Deal Booth was also an assistant to artist, James Turrell. She assisted him with his first realized Skyspace at PS1 in Queens and later with his retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In 2007, Deal Booth began a conversation with the Art Committee, and President Leebron, about approaching James Turrell, and commissioning him to conceive a Skyspace for Rice University. After initial discussions, the project quickly became a priority for Rice’s new Public Art program, as it would further the program’s mission to challenge and inspire the community in a vitally important way.

For the generous vision and patronage that Deal Booth put forward to make this project a reality, the Rice Board of Trustees made a proclamation on June 14, 2012, that Twilight Epiphany, a James Turrell Skyspace, would also come to be known as the Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion.

From inception to final completion, the Skyspace was five years in the making and involved collaboration between countless Rice stakeholders and the larger Houston community. Each individual element of the artwork, from the sequencing of the light displays to the Skyspace’s exclusive function—the acoustical engineering, was designed uniquely for the Rice campus context; thus setting this Skyspace apart from the 72 spaces that have preceded it. As a result, the site-specific installation Twilight Epiphany is simultaneously a functional performance space and an experiential work of art.

 

 

 

Moody Center for the Arts

Rice University
6100 Main Street, MS-480
Houston, TX 77005-1827
(713) 348-ARTS
 

Hours

Tues - Sat: 10:00am–5:00pm
Closed Sun, Mon, and holidays

FREE ADMISSION

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