Are you colour deaf?
(2024)
author(s): Phoebe Rousochatzaki
published in: KC Research Portal
Originating from antiquity, the idea of associating colour with music has been researched extensively in recent decades. The terms for this phenomenon include crossmodal correspondences and synaesthesia (or chromaesthesia), both of which refer to associations our brain makes from stimuli that it perceives through different senses. Correspondence between sound and music, and light and colour, has been a scholarly topic for years—mostly from a scientific point of view.
This thesis aims to investigate different views on the subject, focusing on its artistic/aesthetic rather than neurobiological components. Music-colour correspondence was born from the need of philosophers to make sense of both music and the world. Linguistics has proven ambiguous when used to explain or make sense out of music, hence colour has been a very powerful replacement. It is possible to draw parallels between sound and light because of their similar ontological nature (vibration).
The goal of this thesis is to prove that such an association can enhance a classical music performance for the audience (as related to engagement) and for the performer (as related to analysis, artistic input). As a case study, Olivier Messiaen’s Theme and Variations is analysed in this rather unconventional colour-coded way.
Keywords: synaesthesia, chromaesthesia, crossmodal correspondences, Olivier Messiaen, colour and music.
Contiguous (Enlightenment Panel no 1)
(2024)
author(s): Zoe Panagiota (aka Betty) Nigianni
published in: Research Catalogue
Painting, digital video with dance performance, 2010-2011. Apartment renovation in central Athens (with Sean A. Hladkyj), 2016-17.
1. What happens at the borders where two colours meet? Purposefully exposing by meticulously smudging the edges of painted surfaces shows that there is a small area at the margins that remains undecided.
2. How do we formalise external sensory information? Experimenting with painterly techniques, such as pouring paint directly onto paper and moving the paper around to apply liquid paint, for the larger painting, I methodically applied processes of rationalisation and abstraction for painting a tree branch from life.
The research for the painting and the final work were produced during a painting workshop at the Slade School of Fine Art. The digital video was recorded at one of the rehearsals for a dance performance by choreographer J. Y. Corti at the London Contemporary Dance School.
The title "Enlightenment Panel" comes from Peter Sloterdijk's 'Critique of Cynical Reason', published in 1983, which critically discusses philosophical and popular cynicism.
The variables that affect colour in the digital textile printing process
(2019)
author(s): Becky Gooby
published in: Research Catalogue
The development of digital printing is a major change within the textile design process as a designer is no longer restricted to number of colours, repeat patterns, and may include photographic images and intricate detail. With digital print it is now possible to print anything between a metre, or hundreds of metres, at the click of a button.
However, there is a marked difference between screen-colour and print colour. A textiles designer using Computer Aided Design (CAD) to create a design will be required to experiment with a number of variables in order to feel more confident about the outcome when using digital fabric printing.
Colour Maps
(2019)
author(s): Becky Gooby
published in: Research Catalogue
This exposition presents 48 colour maps signifying the hue, saturation and brightness (HSB) differences between a screen colour and the resulting colour outcome when printing onto fabric with a digital inkjet textile printer. Each map is a 360 degree hue colour circle that has inner rings decreasing in saturation and brightness.
These diagrams visualise the results of initial gamut mapping exercises to explore the colour shifts for a set of Pantone colours printed onto wool (w), linen (l), cotton(c) and silk (s) using reactive dyes.
The colour maps, or digital lab dip tests, provide designers and SMEs with a visualisation of expected colour shifts, allowing them to make amendments to design work prior to printing, and managing expectations of printed colour outcomes.
The development of digital printing is a major change within the textile design process as a designer is no longer restricted to number of colours, repeat patterns, and may include photographic images and intricate detail. With digital print it is now possible to print anything between a metre, or hundreds of metres, at the click of a button. However, there is a marked difference between screen-colour and print colour. A textiles designer using Computer Aided Design (CAD) to create a design will be required to experiment with a number of variables in order to feel more confident about the outcome when using digital fabric printing.open exposition comments (0)
This exposition presents 48 colour maps signifying the hue, saturation and brightness (HSB) differences between a screen colour and the resulting colour outcome when printing onto fabric with a digital inkjet textile printer. Each map is a 360 degree hue colour circle that has inner rings decreasing in saturation and brightness. These diagrams visualise the results of initial gamut mapping exercises to explore the colour shifts for a set of Pantone colours printed onto wool (w), linen (l), cotton(c) and silk (s) using reactive dyes. The colour maps, or digital lab dip tests, provide designers and SMEs with a visualisation of expected colour shifts, allowing them to make amendments to design work prior to printing, and managing expectations of printed colour outcomes.open exposition comments (0)