Viewings are available at 5, 5:45, 6:30, and 7:15 pm.

Located atop the Friend Seminary‘s 16th Street campus, James Turrell’s Leading (2023) is a meeting room in the sky—a spiritual space for silence and contemplation and a physical manifestation of the K-12 Quaker school’s mission.  

One of more than eighty-five Skyspaces—but the only one attached to a K-12 school—Leading is a specifically proportioned chamber where viewers have a unique and personal experience of the sky through a knife-edged aperture in the roof. A softly lit interior combined with the changing light of the sky above provides a dramatic experience for the viewer. Benches line the perimeter of the enclosed space, and LED lights, which surround the aperture inside and outside the chamber, shift colors to affect the viewer’s perception of the sky. Based on the science of how humans perceive light, the individual experience is the actual work itself.

For OHNY at Night, Friends Seminary will offer special evening viewings of its closed dome program, during which the convexed dome shifts color in tandem with interior lighting while the aperture to the sky is closed. Each program lasts about 20 minutes. 

OHNY at Night: This tour is part of a series of evening tours spotlighting the work of lighting designers produced in partnership with the Illuminating Engineering Society New York City Section (IESNYC). Explore more.

This event is not wheelchair accessible. Visitors will need to climb a flight of stairs. Children 3+ are allowed but have their own ticket to attend. All visitors are required to show a valid photo ID at check-in. Latecomers will not be admitted.