Colour News April 2026
Colour related news and events
Welcome to the April edition of ICA-Belgium Colour News, bringing you colour related news from Belgium and around the world.
Celebrating the International Colour Day (21st of March), we dedicated a Collection of Essays to Josef Albers. Today we bring you the first of them, written by Timo Rieke.
We present you an Open Call for the Albers Accessibility Awards, and invite you to register for the international workshop Interaction of Colour in Space.
Warm greetings from Belgium,
-your ICA-Belgium team
Collection of Essays on Albers
We are introducing a Collection of Essays dedicated to Josef Albers, where the organisers of the workshop Interaction of Colour in Space share their thoughts about Josef Albers and his impact on their work. The essays will be published in the coming weeks on ICA-Belgium website.
Hommage to Josef Albers
by Timo Rieke
Josef and Annie Albers never cease to amaze me. Their enduring relevance lies in a fundamental insight: that colour cannot be applied as a formula, but always enters into relationships.
For Josef Albers, colour is not a thing, not a substance, not a measurable stimulus. It is an event – and events require conditions. Colour emerges in relation: to the colours that surround it, to the light that falls upon it, to the material that carries it, to the space in which it appears, and not least to the eye and experience of the beholder. Anyone who opens Interaction of Color finds no system that guarantees results – but an invitation to test these conditions themselves. For Albers, knowledge about colour is always also self-knowledge: I do not see what is there. I see how I see.
This sets him fundamentally apart from theorists like Itten or Küppers, whose systems carry an implicit promise: master the rules and you master colour. Heinz von Foerster would have called that a trivial machine – same input, same output. Albers builds a non-trivial machine. His exercises produce answers that have already shifted by the time you look at them. This is not a weakness – it is the most honest description of how colour actually works. And perhaps the reason his work does not age: whoever offers no formula cannot be superseded.
No wonder that Luis Barragán – to whom both were personally close – hung a reproduction of Homage to the Square on the north wall of his living room. Some affinities need no explanation.
Albers devoted himself to a single theme with a consistency that has few parallels in art history. From that persistence, iconicity emerged – and a foundation that holds. Artists such as Donald Judd, Sheila Hicks, Ruth Asawa and Cy Twombly carried his thinking in entirely different directions, without exhausting it.
At this year’s Albers Workshop of the German Colour Association (Deutsches Farbenzentrum e.V.) and ICA Belgium, we want to experience precisely that: what it means not to possess colour – but to enter into a relationship with it.
- Timo Rieke is a designer, researcher and professor for colour and surface design at the HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hildesheim. He serves as the president of the German Colour Association (Deutsches Farbenzentrum e.V.).
Registration for Interaction of Colour in Space is now open
We invite you to a special 2-day workshop, organised in collaboration with Deutsches Farbenzentrum and with the support of the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop and the Anni and Josef Albers Foundation.
Led by two internationally acclaimed experts, the workshop brings together outstanding voices in architectural colour research and practice: Maria Zurbuchen-Henz and Juan Serra Lluch.
Through hands-on exercises, critical discussion, and applied research, both lecturers offer their distinct interpretations - translating colour theory into spatial experience, material expression, and design strategy.
This is a rare opportunity to engage deeply with colour, exchange ideas with leading experts, and gain new perspectives at a unique setting of the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, where art, theory, and architecture meet. Expand your practice in the very halls where Albers’ legacy lives.
Where: Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop, Germany
When: June 27–28, 2026
Who: Architects, designers, artists and all colour lovers
Full details and program:
Price
Member registration (Deutsches Farbenzentrum and ICA Belgium):
290,00 €
Normal registration:
350,00 €
4 subsidised student places (see the Open Call bellow):
40,00 €
Places are limited to 25.
Open Call: The Albers Accessibility Awards
ICA-Belgium and the Deutsches Farbenzentrum, thanks to the generous support of the Anni and Josef Albers Foundation, are pleased to announce four subsidised placements for our upcoming intensive workshop, Interaction of Colour in Space, taking place at the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, in Bottrop, Germany, June 27–28, 2026.
The Awards
To support the next generation of creative talent and promote the accessibility of high-level colour education, we are offering 4 subsidised spots to full-time students in higher education (including PhD candidates).
Successful applicants will receive a significant reduction in tuition:
Subsidised Student Fee: €40 * (Standard Participant Fee: €350)
*Please note that this subsidy doesn’t cover travel, accommodation, and meals.
To apply for an Albers Accessibility Award, please submit the following via email to ica@ica-belgium.org:
Proof of Enrollment: A clear copy of your valid student card or an official proof of enrollment for the current academic year.
Motivation Statement (Max. 250 words, in English): A short text explaining
Why you wish to participate in the Interaction of Colour in Space workshop at the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat.
How would this workshop impact your current studies, research, personal interest, and/or future career goals.
Email Subject Line: Albers Accessibility Award Application - [Your Full Name]
Key Dates
Application Deadline: May 1st, 2026 (end of day, CEST)
Notification of Results: Successful applicants will be notified by email no later than May 15th, 2026.
We look forward to reading your applications and welcoming a dynamic group of students to Bottrop this June!
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