Colour News April 2025
Colour related news and events
Walk & Talk / Meet & Learn in Brussels
We celebrated the International Colour Day with a visit to the Design Museum in Brussels and viewing the exhibition Untold Stories – Women Designers in Belgium 1880-1980, guided by Javier Gimeno-Martinez, co-curator of the exhibition.
We were happy to see old friends and make new ones.
Till the next meeting!
15th Dresden Color Forum: What the painter knows: Colour knowledge in painting
Colour theories and systems in the history of painting and their relevance today
Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
4 - 5 July 2025, on-site
https://www.farbenforum-dresden.org
On the 4th and 5th July 2025, the 15th Dresden Color Forum will take place at the University Color Research and Teaching Collection of the Dresden University of Technology.
The conference language will be in German.
Topic:
Compositional knowledge of color in painting was traditionally considered more of a craft-based skill and was rarely part of art theory. It was not until the late 19th century that scientific color theories were increasingly linked to artistic composition principles, which then became more integrated into the teaching at art academies, schools of arts and crafts, and trade schools. A connection between science and artistic craftsmanship was still evident in the foundational courses of the Bauhaus. However, from the mid-20th century onward, systematic color theory largely disappeared from painting curricula.
The 15th Dresden Farben Forum focuses on the relevance of color composition knowledge in painting and art restoration, both from historical and contemporary perspectives. It also examines its current role in curricula of painting at art academies.
Schedule:
July 4th, 2025 – Friday
History: Aesthetics and Art Theory / The Knowledge of Artists (Historical Sources)
Science: Order Models, Theories of Color Composition, Theories of Perception
Art and Craft: Artistic Color Theory, Sources / Color Materials / Durability / Material and Visual Impact
July 5th, 2025 – Saturday
Knowledge in Art Restoration
Color Education for Artists – Painting Curricula at Universities Today
When/Where:
Friday and Saturday July 4th and 5th, TU Dresden, Faculty of Architecture, Zellescher Weg 17, 01069 Dresden Room 006, Sammlung Farbenlehre.
Registration fee:
Conference fee: 2 days - 150€ / 1 day - 90€ (incl. catering for lunches & coffee breaks)
Early Bird registration until 31.04.2025 10€ discount - students have free admission!
Information: farbenforum-dresden.org
Registration: farbe@mailbox.tu-dresden.de
Colour Exhibitions
Colour - Seeing beyond pigment
Z33 - House for Contemporary Art, Design & Architecture, Hasselt, Belgium
8 May to 24 August, 2025
Pigments are everywhere. From paints to cosmetics and clothes, from everyday objects to food and drinks, they literally add colour to life. Unfortunately, the pigment and dye industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. In the search for natural alternatives, Laboratorium – the biolab for art, design and biotechnology at KASK & Conservatorium in Ghent – went a long way. Here, melanin proved to be a fascinating track. In Z33, researchers, designers and artists present their results for the first time.
Melanin is found in our skin and determines our colour. But what few people know is that the pigment is also found in animals and has a very wide range of tones. Think of the wings of a butterfly or peacock feathers. Because of the structure in the wings on which light refracts, you can observe different colour tones. Can these natural solutions help us in the search for less polluting dyes?
Several designers and artists got to work with this structural colour and are showing their work for the first time.
Participating artists and designers: Amandine David, Ann Veronica Janssens, Bram Vanderbeke, Dimitris Theocharis, Heleen Sintobin, Marlou Breuls, Tiina Pyykkinen
Scientist: Maria Boto
Curator: Annelies Thoelen
In collaboration with: KASK & Conservatory (HOGENT – Howest), VUB (Sustainable Engeneering Materials Research Group) and UGent (Evolution and Optics of Nanostructures).
Laboratory, KASK & Conservatory’s biolab for art, design and biotechnology, specialises in sustainable colour production. The research project Ecology of Colour is developing a palette of structural colour thanks to nanotechnology. Based on synthetic melanin, a color film is being developed to be applied to paper, metal, ceramics, glass, etc.
More information: https://www.z33.be/en/programma/colour/
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Éditions
Galerie La Patinoire Royale Bach, Brussels, Belgium
until 26 July 2025
Éditions brings together a selection of bidimensional works by Carlos Cruz-Diez.
While he is well known for his participatory environments and three dimensional works, he also produced works that lay flat on the page.
When he chose to work in series it was an intentional exploration of the declension of colours. He programmed systematic sets in an experimental game exploring the virtual sensations produced in the vision of the viewer.
The serial works presented in the exhibition range from early works on paper such as the silkscreens Couleur Additive série de 2 (1981) in ochre and orange and the Induction Chromatique series (1988) to later large scale works such as the chromography on aluminum set of Couleur Additive Denise (2007). In Couleur Additive série semana (2013), Cruz-Diez used lithography to create a graphic set of prints with geometric shapes corresponding to the days of the week.
The Induction Chromatique works are part of one of Cruz-Diez’s eight long term ongoing investigations into the properties of colour. This series works with retinal persistence, which is the phenomena in which the opposite corresponding color imprints in the eye after staring at a primary color. While the experience of retinal persistence usually occurs sequentially — such as seeing a virtual sensation of green after staring at red pigment — the Induction Chromatique stabilises the phenomena into a single experience contained in the work.
His Couleur Additive series meanwhile works with the radiation of colour. When one colour plane touches another, a darker vertical line appears at the point of contact. While this line is not physically painted into the work, it is a regular event that occurs in the perception of the viewer. In this series Cruz-Diez worked with this visual evocation of in fact invisible colours, making real the viewer’s experience of colours that are not physically present in the work. For the artist, “Colour is not on the surface, colour is in space.”
More information: https://prvbgallery.com/exhibitions/67-editions-carlos-cruz-diez/
Colour - A Chromatic Promenade through the Royal Pavilion
Royal Pavilion & Garden, Brighton, UK
until 19 October 2025
The Regency Palace of the Royal Pavilion opens a vibrant new immersive experience that invites you to explore the history, magic and meaning of colour.
Embark on a captivating journey through the Royal Pavilion with COLOUR. Step back into George IV’s era, when colour wasn’t just seen—it was felt. Wander through rooms where rich, diverse shades create a full sensory immersion, blending light, sound, and texture. From bold and glossy to mindful and demure, the exhibition will take you on a fascinating chromatic journey through the Pavilion. With exciting artist collaborations, workshops and events to enhance the experience, this is a must-see exploration of the power and beauty of colour.
More information: https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/event/colour/
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