CHROMODOMO K09

Light - colour - space

Almost everyone nowadays makes photos and films about the most diverse matters. Sites like YouTube show all kinds of recordings of a whole range of phenomena. Nature recordings represent one category in particular that frequently offers splendid glimpses of beauty, extending from films of the ‘Northern Lights’ to the colours of the deep sea and the plumage of birds. A feast of colour and light.
The other side of the coin is what is called ‘light pollution’. Within a very short time, the Earth has been inundated, as it were, by light and colour. From the invention of the light bulb to neon advertisements, TV sets, street lighting, and all styles of multimedia: there has been almost no moment of escape. Recordings of the Earth from a certain distance demonstrate this clearly: one huge indulgence of light and colour.

What effect does this permanent fairground of colour and light, this excess, have on people? On their perception, their powers of distinction, their concentration, for example. In this context, how do artists relate to this development?
A short time ago, we saw an exhibition with young artists. To our surprise, almost every possible colour was absent from the exhibition. And the representative means also displayed a refreshing simplicity. There were slide shows instead of films, overhead projectors, empty rooms with sound. As far as we know, the exhibitors had not been chosen on the basis of their reticence.

For this Chromodomo exhibition, K09 sought out the various ways that artists deal with colour and/or light in their work. The selection consists of a number of artists who have incorporated new media into their work and a group of artists who make use of more traditional resources.
Each of these categories also includes other artists who, on the one hand, explore the possibilities of the visual resources to the limits, and, on the other, artists who precisely reduce these resources to a minimum.

A number of artists were given a specific assignment, referring to concepts such as ‘much’ or ‘little’ and ‘large’ and ‘small’. Thus, there is mention of a dialogue, guided by K09, between the work of various artists. In all cases, each artist was asked to create a work especially for a particular space.

It is not our task to provide such information in advance. The intention of this exhibition is to present an experience of the work in the space in question, and differences in experiencing diverse spaces.


K09: Jacob van der Veen / Joke Vos