Colorimètre

Light is a fundamental element in Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s installations. With it, he explores themes of absence and presence, and examines issues related to the phenomenon of the surveillance camera. The interactive installation, “Colorimètre”, transforms the grand hall of Maison Manuvie. The feature wall of the hall is adorned with over 500 colour panels, arranged in a vertical grid orientation, showcasing a constantly-changing gamut of colours. These colour cells are activated by the colours captured by a camera in the grand hall and its surroundings. They are reminiscent of the digital palettes found in design software, the calibration patterns used in audiovisual equipment and the Pantone colour swatches used in printing. The colours also evoke the hyperpixelisation of low-resolution images. A miniature camera with a computerized colour tracking system scans and zooms around the grand hall, stopping whenever it finds saturated colours. Images captured in real time are transformed and reinterpreted to bring out the colour in motion. The feature wall is not simply a mirror of the hall, acting rather as a highlighter of specific colours within it.