13. Implications and applications¶
Implications and applications¶
Research & Concept¶
As we near the end of the first three months of intense Fabricademy weeks, I start to think about how I would like to spend the next phase.
aísthi̱ma¶
aísthi̱ma is about the perception through the senses, emotional or affective response. It's primarily a research project, where I will be doing a deep dive into natural colours, their extraction and application, as well as the impact these colours can have on our behaviour. As an artist I have always had a fascination with colour. I am especially drawn to monochrome, large scale paintings and textile art. Since I have started extracting natural dyes and applying them on a variety of materials, my perception and experience of colour has changed. So I want to ask...
What is colour?
How does it affect our mood?
How does it change our behaviour?
These questions have opened pandora's box and I am excited to discover! My challenge is to try and understand the mystery of natural colours and try to formalise its language of frequency and emotions. Colour is all around us and we are constantly reacting to it, be it not always consciously. From Goethe’s Theory of Colours, to Kandinsky's Concerning the Spiritual in Art, to Rothko's emotional monochromatic paintings, I want to research and understand everything I can about colour as a whole. I am curious about the physics of colour and how our perception of it is subjective. I want to learn how Max Lusher has used colour as an instrument for diagnostics and more.
But further from this, I want to experiment, extract, apply, record and document natural colours. I want to use different techniques and variations of pigment extraction from the environment around me, giving a voice to these electromagnetic waves that, in a narrow spectrum, hit the eye just right, giving us the chance to "see" colour. Using my experimentations, I would like to create a swatch book for us to discover and observe how these colours and materials impact our moods. Does a colour intensify an emotion? Does it heal? Is it soothing? Exciting? Maybe overstimulating?
I would further like to argue that naturally extracted colour can have a deeper affect on us, than synthetic colours do.
Through my final project I want to shed light on our experience of natural colour, bringing it to the forefront of our attention for a moment.
I imagine a "Mood Room" where vast monochrome natural colour textiles can hang, giving us the space and time to slow down in their company, reflect and re-balance.
References & Inspiration¶
Mark Rothko
Rothko Chapel, Houston
My very fist colour experience, that has stayed with me all this time, happened at a retrospective of Mark Rothko at the Tate Modern almost 20 years ago. I was physically feeling the colours and as a result having an emotional reaction to them.
Yves Klein
Yves Klein, California (IKB 71), 1961
Magdalena Abakanowicz
Magdalena Abakanowicz large scale textile sculptures pulls you, yet at the same time intimidates you. In 2023 I experienced her Abakans at the Tate Modern. I say experience, because this was not just an observation. Their scale and the earthy hues embrace you. They invite you close and the more you take the invitation, the smaller they make you feel. Her work is inspired by human experiences, female experiene, of wars, of nature. The Abakans create a situation, an environment and the viewer encounters them. The scale creates a bodily experience.
Susan Magsamen
Josephine Yaa Akuamoah
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| Josephine Yaa Akuamoah, File Under Pop |
Books and Articles¶
- Interaction of Color, Josef Albers
- Goethe’s Theory of Colours
- The Color Theories of Mark Rothko: A Deeper Look into His Palette
- In Pursuit of Color: From Fungi to Fossil Fuels: Uncovering the Origins of the World
- Color Psychology: Effects of Perceiving Color on Psychological Functioning in Humans
- The Luscher Color Test
- Concerning the Spiritual in Art by Wassily Kandinsky
- Chromatopia: An Illustrated History of Color
- The Secret Lives of Color, Kassia St Clair
WHAT¶
A research based exploration of the concept of colour, how it impacts us and how it can influence our mood and behaviour. To further understand, discover and document the extraction and application of biochromes. Analyse and compare the influence of natural colour to synthetic colours. Can we feel closer to nature by being surrounded by natural colour within our own homes? How will this change us in our day to day lives?
WHO¶
Primarily me.
But also designers, artists, aesthetes, psychologists, sustainability enthusiasts, colour enthusiasts, nature lovers... you name it!
WHY¶
Our disconnection from nature has deepened over time, while mental wellbeing has suffered. We need a moment to slow down, reflect, re-balance. I believe natural colours hold a great deal of healing properties and I would like to discover how I can use the natural environment around me to impact behaviour, emotion and mood, with the use of biochromes. I personally would love a mood room .
HOW¶
Through a deep research and exploration of natural colours and its application on different materials. How can we use the findings of this research in design?
Phase one will concentrate on reading and researching colour theories (modern and old), while simultaneously experimenting on different pigment extraction methods as well as application methods to create a swatch book. The colours will be derived from the surrounding environment (from peels to tree barks, using known and unknown materials in this experimentation).
Phase Two will concentrate on researching and documenting how the colours and the materials from the swatch book change my mood, influence my behaviour. Interview or ask others to use the swatch book to record their observations. Maybe have a question for each page?
Phase Three - In the last phase I would like to pick an emotion or behaviour (maybe more than one) and create a large scale textile with colour. The final result would be creating a room, where you can sit and experience a natural colour to alter and impact a certain emotion.
Slide show¶
aísthi̱ma by Svetlana Khachatryan