The National Gallery of Australia's new James Turrell exhibition is so intense that art lovers will be asked to sign a waiver before viewing one of the works.

Opening to the public this Saturday, James Turrell: a retrospective has been described as everything from "spiritual" to "disorienting".

This week the 71-year-old American artist visited Canberra to open the exhibition, which he said was "one of my best".

Light is Turrell's medium and behind his sometimes simple displays, are some very complex constructions.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is Bindu shards, which viewers with a premium ticket can experience from the inside of the artwork - if they sign a waiver.

In experiencing the work, the viewer is entirely enclosed inside a white dome filled with what the artist describes as "behind the eyes light".

Due to the nature of the artwork, which utilises flashing lights, those who enter the viewing chamber must fill out a form indicating whether they suffer from epilepsy, have a pacemaker or suffer from a fear of confined spaces.

Gallery-goers have been keen to secure a spot, and tickets to the experience have sold out until January next year.

"It's quite an emotional work I would say, and one that I hope would have you thinking about your relationship to light," Turrell said at the launch.

Bindu shards 2010. Perceptual cell: fiberglass and metal. Light program 420.8 x 653.1 x 607.1 cm (sphere). National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2014. By James Turrell. ( Supplied: National Gallery of Australia )

Turrell's artwork already a feature at NGA

Skyspace: lighting installation, concrete and basalt stupa, water, earth, landscaping. Photo: John Gollings ( Supplied: National Gallery of Australia )

The artist is no stranger to the NGA and is perhaps best known in Australia for his famous Within Without Skyspace viewing chamber, in the grounds of the gallery.

It is just one of a number of Skyspaces created by Turrell, which are dotted around the globe.

In this exhibition there are more than 50 works to explore, including projection pieces, holograms, drawings, prints, photographs and 10 installations.

Turrell has made a career of playing with perception, taking his audience on a bright and sometimes challenging ride, and this exhibition is no exception.

"I have high expectations of my audience and in general I would say they've met that," he said.

'I'm interested in the effect of light'

The artist said he hoped viewers were able to experience the sensations and emotions that flowed from his art, without being distracted by the technical nature of the medium.

And it is an objective he seems to have achieved.

Some viewers at the launch of the exhibition reported feeling disoriented and confused, while others found the experience "quite spiritual".

James Turrell in front of Roden Crater Project at sunset, October 2001. ( Photo: Florian Holzherr )

"When you sit down and see someone play at a piano you don't think 'wow what a fantastic machine'," Turrell said.

"We've become so used to it, we can feel the emotion that comes through it, rather than just thinking about how it was constructed. I would like that [for the work], if possible.

"I do know that these are new things, but actually the technology involved in all of these, except perhaps the Bindu Shards, is quite simple.

"I don't want you looking at the light fixture, I want to you looking at where light goes. But more than that, I'm interested in the effect of light, upon you and your perception."

Turrell said through the ages light had been a powerful subject matter in and that his work was a continuation of that.

"[But] where paint is used to depict light, I'm just very interested in using light itself," he said.

"This idea that light plays an important part in our life is important to me.

"And rather than have something where we generally use light to illuminate things, I was interested in the 'thingness' [sic] of light."

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