Changing Perception Object
RENS X DESIGN MUSEUM GHENT
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2020 is the year of the Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck. Design Museum Ghent celebrates this with KleurEyck - an exhibition about innovative and diverse use of colour, featuring works by designers from various design areas. At the request of curator Siegrid Demyttenaere, studio RENS set up two rooms of the museum with Changing Perception /Objects and /Online.
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This installation is based on research into the influence of (artificial) light on colour. It emerges that not the shape of objects, but the degree of reflection and absorption of their material determines how we experience different colours. Also, some colours appear to fluctuate in hue and tone through exposure, while others remain seemingly unchanging.
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Studio RENS translated the research results into a museum setup, in which 30 iconic SE07 dining room chairs by designer Martin Visser take center stage. Upholstering each chair with a different fabric, and lighting it differently each time, creates a spectacle of a phenomenon that is continuously happening around us, but is rarely noticed: the beauty of colour change through light.
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The research is a collaboration with Professor Kevin Smet of Light & Lighting Laboratory (KU Leuven). The installation is made possible with chairs from Spectrum and fabrics from Kvadrat.