What is the Roden Crater Project? Started by artist James Turrell in the 1970s, the project makes use of the naturally occurring Roden Crater of an extinct volcano. The artist’s own website describes the project like this: “Organized as a distinct set of changing experiences of light, Turrell’s intervention in the natural form of Roden Crater consists of a series of chambers, pathways, tunnels, and openings onto the sky from within and around the crater’s surface.” Put more simply, Turrell has essentially turned the Roden Crater into a unique observatory, and now with Kanye’s financial assistance the project can continue indefinitely. For Turrell’s part, he understandably says he’s “thrilled” by the donation, but if you have a sharp memory or you’re a follower of Turrell’s work you may recall that he hasn’t always been grateful for the attention he’s gotten from the hip hop community. In 2015, his work was cited as being one of the chief inspirations behind the video for Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” to which he issued the following statement:
