December 24, 2013

I was reading the NY Times this morning and was drawn by this story about visionary art as it is based in my hometown of Baltimore. As I clicked over to the AVAM site (American Visionary Art Museum) and started looking around I got really excited.

AVAM has something for everyone (as most museums do) only this time it comes with a little twist. One of the current exhibits is called Human, Soul & Machine: The Coming Singularity.

As the website describes it, “The American Visionary Art Museum’s 19th original thematic exhibition is a timely and playful examination of the serious impact of technology on our lives, as seen through the eyes of 40+ visionary artists, cutting edge futurists, and inventors. Pleasing to an audience of Nobel Prize winners and schoolchildren alike, this show asks, “Two billion personal computers later, post DNA-sequencing, are we on the road to becoming a better, healthier, happier, less warlike, human race?”

Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with color. Well, as I was reading through the details of the exhibition I was quick to notice that one of the artists included is Neil Harbisson. If you follow me on Facebook you might recall me sharing Neil’s Ted talk “I Listen To Color.” Neil has created a world for himself based on color and technology which has opened up a whole new world for him. As a person who works in and with color, the growing conversation is increasingly intermixed with talk of technology and how we see color.

[ted id=1512]

There are a few different schools of thought when it comes to looking at color on a computer versus seeing it in real time. Although it is tempting to view color digitally and it has come a long way since the days of limited “web safe” colors, at this moment, I tend to fall on the side of color in real time and always send clients seeking color advice hard copy of the colors, but who is to say that technology won’t make virtual color matching easier in the future?

How do you weigh in on “real” color vs digital?

American Visionary Art Museum.

Have a safe and Happy Holiday!