CHROMASCAPE
UTSOA | Program: Light Installation
Austin, Texas | Clay Shortall | Spring 2013
Collaboration with Mike Beene
“Color has in its abstraction an enormous psychological and associative potential, and even though
it has been cultivated to the extreme, the amount of individuality in experiencing colors is equally extreme.”
--Olafur Eliasson, Some Ideas about Color
Architects have long understood the profound relationship between color and the built environment. The messages conveyed through the architects intended use of color can highly influence the environment and as a result the subjects that occupy the space. Color is seen somewhat as a universal visual language. Psychologists, artists, and designers since the Renaissance have characterized color and its connotations on an objective basis. While there is a predetermined symbolism inherent in color, its meaning is ultimately dependent upon personal interpretation. As a result, color perception becomes highly subjective; the human-environment interaction, what the brain processes and judges what it perceives can manifest a higher level of consciousness of color perception, rather than the everyday connotations we have for them. Furthermore, this phenomenon is affected by the cross cultural differences, the languages we speak, and the words that we have to describe color.
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In Clay Shortall’s advanced studio, we investigated how language may affect our perception of color and consequentially, our behavior in an environment. In our initial experiment, red, blue, and green values of each named color in the English language were mapped on an X, Y, and Z axis respectively. This three dimensional mapping, called the Color Cube, examines relative densities and gaps in our color language. By mapping our color language in three dimensions, we were able to identify that there are significantly fewer named colors in the English language in comparison to the extensive range of colors in an RGB color space. Areas of high concentrations show there are many words for that particular color range. Sparse areas indicate parts of the spectrum in which we have few to no words for. The unnamed mystery colors within these sparse areas become biases in how we perceive, remember, and associate with various hues. Furthermore, these sparse areas show how limited we are in the words we have to describe these colors. We then asked how this impacts our perception of architectural space.
1. Color Cube
2. Installation Axonometric and Plan View
3. CHROMASCAPE Analysis
1. Color Cube
This three dimensional mapping of the English color words shows relative densities and gaps in our color language. By mapping our color language in three dimensions, we were able to identify the biases that structure how we perceive, remember, and associate with various hues. We then asked how this impacts our perception of architectural space. Areas with high concentrations mean that there are many words for that particular color range. Sparse areas indicate parts of the spectrum for which we have few to no words for.
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2. Installation Axonometric and Plan View
Five panels approximately 10’ by 8’ were constructed with over half of a mile of hand-made mohair yarn, spaced every 2 inches. The mohair yarn provided an inert substrate for the capture of light. With the help of Processing, a programming language, used along with a Microsoft Kinect, the installation slowly changes color while reacting in real-time to the presence of people using two infrared cameras.
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3. CHROMASCAPE Analysis
A documentation of the CHROMASCAPE exhibition was performed. As the panels transversed through the color spectrum from the digital projector, the inhabitants superimposed color in real-time was recorded. What’s shown are millions of points in spaced in the shape of a person’s silhouette moving throughout the installation over the course of 4 hours. The peak hours are shown with the highest density of points. The installation’s projected color recorded was then compared to our initial color cube analysis, which represents the actual 175 named colors in our English language. The bar graph shows how far these projected colors deviated from our limited color language.
In an attempt realize our research in a more tangible format, we iteratively developed CHROMASCAPE. The intention behind CHROMASCAPE is to overcome the cultural, symbolic, and inherent preconceptions we have with color, allowing the viewer to experience and even inhabit color at its most fundamental level. Fives panels are constructed with over one half of a mile of hand-made mohair yarn. The mohair yarn provides a consistent medium in which color can be objectified. Two infrared cameras observe the position and movement of people occupying the space, thus, slowly changing the installation’s color. In addition, the installation methodically transverses through the hue spectrum, giving no preference to one color over another. CHROMASCAPE allows one to rediscover color in a more immediate way, heightening the viewer’s perception and visceral response to color. Color derives meaning not only through collective interpretation, but through one’s personal response to it. While we communicate certain messages through the predetermined symbolism inherent in color, its subjective impact on an individual, that which is impossible to generalize, contributes greatly to its ultimate meaning. This makes color at once a limitation and an asset for the architect. Our inability to control the interpretation of color allows us to suggest certain occupations of a space while guaranteeing a level of autonomy for the perceiver.
CHROMASCAPE Flyers
GOL 2.110 | 2013.4.16 | CHROMASCAPE EXHIBITION