James Turrell’s “Akhob” light installation
If the visual tender of the Strip is spectacle — distracting, frenetic, desultory spectacle — then “Akhob” is the opposite of that. Its enveloping bath of light immerses, calms and unifies the faculties. It’s probably the closest thing to a spiritual experience you’re going to have on the Strip (barring, maybe, dinner at Guy Savoy).
But let me back up and explain what it is. “Akhob” is a James Turrell light art installation secreted in a special floor above the Louis Vuitton shop in Crystals at CityCenter. But “light art installation” doesn’t do it justice. These aren’t lights you gaze and gawk at as an object. Rather, in this hushed, podlike room that cycles gently through various illuminations — aqueous, infinite blues, angelic peach sunrises that seem laced with dream — the light is everywhere. The light is everything.
This is the Strip, however, so I suppose it’s forgivable to talk about the exhibit's wow factors. The most notable is called the Ganzfeld effect. When the 15-minute light cycle achieves a uniform color in the two chambers, edges and intersections disappear; the room slowly melts away into plumose infinity. The Ganzfeld effect describes how your brain, scanning frantically for a visual anchor, will start supplying its own anchors in the form of mild hallucinations. It’s disorienting, even alarming, at first. But if you relax and, yes, quite literally stare into the void, the disorientation gives way to a feeling of peace.
Which leads to what I call the church effect: You’ll find yourself surrendering to an elated discretion, moving slowly, whispering to communicate, as though in deference to a sublimity you forgot about. And, look, you just found it again, of all places, on the Strip.
Seeing James Turrell’s “Akhob” is free, but requires an appointment by calling 702-730-3150.