I never expected to react this way

Hello everyone

I was giving an assignment by my Prof. Lyssa Palu-ay. She told us to go to the new ICA in South Boston to see the new exhibition of James Turrell. I was very excited because I have never seen his work. I was very much intrigued by the video that Lyssa had shown in class in regards to Turrells work.

I went to the ICA on January 24, 2007 around 11am. First I must say as a architect student i was very please to see such cool building. So I headed up the 4th floor where the exhibitions were. I was like a kid playing treasure hunt for Turrell's work. So i began to speed by every artist label until I found Turrells installation. I finally found his name. But i didn't understand why his work would be in a dark secluded room. I must admit i wasn't to drill about entering a pitch dark corner of a room. So i went in slowly. As soon as a turn to take a right, a big semi-bright red rectangle stared back at me.

Instantly I got super dizzy and nervous at the same time. Is like i had motion sickness. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and open them. Then all of a sudden the damn square seem to be slightly projecting out the wall. So as nervous as I was, I decided to check it out. I approached the red square to see if it was a laser projection....but it wasn't. My eyes was seriously playing tricks on me. My heart was beating really fast. The square then look as if it was a big red hole in the wall. So I began to run my finger's gently on the wall until I reached the lower corner of this "red box".

I soon as i reached the lower corner, my fingers slid inside the corner. I jumped with fear and said "oh shit!" out loud. I wanted to run but something just told me to relax and countinue with the experience. I yet took another deep breath and persue the interaction i had what is now a hole on the wall. I just wanted to see out of curiousity if the hole wasn't as deep as i thought. So i put my hand inside trying to feel the real wall but i couldn't. Then I pushed inside a little bit more and no wall. I went for arms length inside the hole and yet no wall. I said the hell with this. I was already expecting something or someone to jump out and grab me....I left out of there in a hurry.

I honestly thought that i would experience something way different and not so nerve-racking.
I really want to know why the color red? and why a deep infinite hole on the wall?? was this the kind of reaction he wanted his audience to have? and if so...why and what's the purpose. After this whole experience, I laughed at myself and realized that I was a true "chicken-shit". Who would have known that a simple red rectangle hole on the wall could make me react this way....I am very impressed with Turrell.

For those who haven't been to the ICA and check it out....YOU'RE MISSING OUT!!! Besides Turrells scary box, there's tons of cool exhibitions!