Red Shift

Abstract

This paper evokes the dynamic colour space that results when a printed colour (subtractive) interacts with colour from video projection (additive).

Colour shapes our knowledge and adds mystery to our world as light and pigmented surfaces interrelate. In our recent work, Breath, we present a richly layered mural-sized print along with video projection and immersive sound; these interacting media enhance the effect of the printed composition. Light filtering and scattering the composition of the printed colour and the time-based superimposition of narrative moving images with spatialized audio combine to create a time-based immersive work that is fundamentally dependent on colour.

Since 2014, our experimental projects have used digital print on paper and projected video to evoke the natural environment, from both conceptual and perceptual perspectives; we highlight both environmental integrity and potential threats. In Breath, we consider one of the planet’s most critical ongoing biological interactions: oxygen-producing marine phytoplankton and oxygen-consuming terrestrials. The mural-sized print uses saturated archival colour on a matte, bright white substrate. The video projection heightens the print’s colour space, adding imagery and colour transitions. This paper describes how the fluid colour effect of light on pigment alters both content and viewer experience.