Colour News March 2026
Colour related news and events
Welcome to the March edition of ICA-Belgium Colour News, bringing you colour related news from Belgium and around the world.
Explore the 10th Photo Brussels Festival with Vinciane Lacroix and discover exhibitions rich in colour. In case you missed our Colour Talk with Juan Serra Lluch, the recording is now available.
Warm greetings from Belgium,
-your ICA-Belgium team
Recording of the Colour Talk with Juan Serra Lluch
If you missed our Colour Talk on the 8th of February 2026, the recording is now available.
Juan Serra Lluch, architect, researcher and professor at the School of Architecture of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), spoke about his book, Color for Architects.
If you’d like to read the book, there are English and French versions available.
You can buy the English book here:
Neue Galerie / Standaard Boekhandel / Biblio / Architectura & Natura
French version, published by Le Moniteur: Utiliser la couleur dans un projet d’architecture, can be bought here:
Libris.nl / Athenaeum Scheltema / Filigranes / Le Moniteur
*ICA-Belgium is an affiliate of Routledge, Libris and Atheneum Scheltema. We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made through these links, at no cost to you, which helps support our mission.
Colour Circle Book Club
The first Colour Circle Book Club Meeting will take place on 3 May 2026, with hybrid attendance. The exact time and place will be communicated to members and paid subscribers. Join us in reading Color for Architects by Juan Serra Lluch.
Find out more about the Colour Circle Book Club:
Colour Exhibitions on our radar
Light as a heritage. Church glass windows in Flanders after 1945
12 January - 29 March 2026, KADOC-KU Leuven
The exhibition Light as Heritage focuses on the distinctive character of church stained glass after the Second World War. It explores the revival and development of stained-glass art, presents glass artists whose archives are preserved at KADOC and who were active after 1945, and concludes with an in-depth look at three case studies:
the Church of Saint Hubert in Berchem, featuring work by Joris Van de Broek;
the Church of Our Lady in Kortrijk, with the stained-glass ensemble by Michel Martens; and the parish church of Salvator Mundi in the Hamont district of Lo, with stained-glass windows by Bert Vonk.
Curated by Zsuzsanna Böröcz.
La Bataille des couleurs (The Battle of the Colours)
13 February – 17 August 2026, Maison Pompidou, Paris
Before adopting its iconic pop colours, the Centre Pompidou almost ended up gold and blue, brown, or even… entirely yellow! In the 1970s, during its construction, the chromatic palette of the building designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers (with Gianfranco Franchini and engineers Ove Arup & Partners) was the subject of extraordinary controversy. A true Battle of the Colors is now retraced in an eponymous inaugural exhibition at the Maison Pompidou.
Red for the movement of goods and visitors, blue for air conditioning, green for water, yellow for electricity... each flow network was assigned a colour. While these colours are iconic today, they actually emerged from a succession of events and disputes between 1971 and 1977, during which President Georges Pompidou, the architects, museum curators, and several artists repeatedly composed and recomposed the building’s palette.
Testimonies, drawings, photographs, previously unseen documents, and a materials library shed light on the turbulent origins of this palette. Colour appears here as a central issue - the object of passionate debate and conflict. The exhibition is organised into two sections: a first room dedicated to discovering the chromatic history of the building, and a second room presenting a collection of everyday objects (tables, lighting, buckets, cables, etc.) that demonstrate how the architects applied this palette down to the smallest details of design and interior layout.
New Online Course: CMS Colour Fundamentals
By Nick Harkness
This new CMS set of Interactive colour exercises explores the core aspects of colour terminology. They enhance visual colour, communication and understanding of lightness, chroma, hue and appearance in just 10 practical tasks.
What’s included
Primary Colours / Art Colour Circle / CIE Colour Circle / NCS Colour Circle / Lightness / Hering Triangle / Chroma & Hue / Colour Difference / Colour Difference (Advanced) / After Image
Price: AUD 38
Colour Made Simple is ideal for:
Large, medium sized, small organisations and Individuals. It enables good colour understanding and the ability to communicate colour issues within a range of departments e.g. Design, Marketing, Production, R &D plus Sales.
Speaking the same colour language and using the same terminology is critical for product development, creative projects, IP and brand management when colour issues occur.
New comers to an organisation. CMS represents a fast track into the world of colour measurement for a wide range applications.
Universities looking to augment course material or university students seeking to deepen their knowledge on this subject over a wide range of academic disciplines
People with a passion for colour
Special offer! 25% discount for ICAB members
Find more information below:
As a nonprofit organisation, run entirely by volunteers and on a very limited budget, we are counting on you to help us continue offering free online Colour Talks, colour related information and accessible colour related events and education. Consider to either become an ICA-Belgium member, or a paid newsletter subscriber. You can also buy ICA a coffee.
