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Color and Time

 

Can color tell time? Sure, according to Tokyo-based architect and designer, Emmanuelle Moureaux – but on its own terms. This week, I stumbled over Moureaux’s installation “toki” (“time” in Japanese), which was part of the 2012 DesignTide exhibit. I’ve always been interested in the relationship between color and time; and Moureaux takes an interesting approach here.

“toki” doesn’t actually look at how color tells time, per se, but rather investigates how time might be expressed through color. It’s the sort of rich, nuanced question that could occupy an artist for a lifetime. In this instance, Moureaux created an array of colorful sticks, all different hues, which move through the use of magnets, quite like the hands of an abstracted clock. According to designboom, this concept represents “the multiple time zones of our world and an indication of progress and moving forward.” On her website, Moureaux offers a more poetic explanation: “A universal element called ‘time’ And a sensuous element called ‘color’ When the disparate two coincide, it lures to the emotional world of ‘time.’”

You can watch a brief video of Moureaux discussing “toki” here. I’d be curious to hear from other artists working with color – how does your work express or relate to time?