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colour, language, signal

time and possibility

as

interconnected fields of artistic research 

#colourtime  #colourlanguage  #timelanguage ...

artworks
painting, writing, calculating, sensing, transcoding

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installations
available, archive, in progress

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public art
public space, indoor, ongoing, proposals

LAb[au] Editions presents art in the form of publications. Many recent projects have generated libraries, archives, and cabinets whose conceptual frameworks rely on reproduction, iteration, seriality, and multiplication.

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Many of these works emerge from extensive processes of research and development. These processes often generate extensive series of results that require reproducible material forms—digital prints, photocopies, colour samples, index cards, folders, or other formats. In these formats, the underlying concepts find precise material expression. For some, the edition constitutes the very form through which the work exists.

 

LAb[au] Editions creates a dedicated field in which these works can be produced under viable conditions and circulated directly at accessible prices.

Through an autonomous structure of publication and distribution, LAb[au] Editions preserves the integrity of each work while remaining complementary to our collaborations with galleries.

 

The value of these artist books, monographs, multiples, and limited or open editions lies in their distinct material and conceptual qualities, in the knowledge and experience they make accessible, and in the engagement with our work and research that they enable.

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Made to circulate—to be read, handled, collected, and shared.

Open wooden card-index box containing the Colours Archive by LAb[au]

Colours about Colours - Archive

MULTIPLE
 
Colours about Colours - Archive
Wooden index-card archive containing 100 colour cards
from the series:
What colours tell us about…? – Colours

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Only a selection of thematic archives is presented
in the online store. Download the catalogue of
available themes (PDF) →

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  • Edition Details

    Year: 2024
    Format: 24 × 24 × 16 cm
    Wooden archive box containing 100 colour index cards
    Digital prints on 500 g paper
    Signed and stamped on the reverse
    Edition of 3 + 1 artist’s proof
    Produced to order
    This edition: 1/3

  • Description

    Colours about Colours - Archive

    This thematic mini-archive brings together 100 colour anagrams selected from the larger What colours tell us about…? archive. Each mini-archive focuses on a specific field—in this case, on what colours tell us about colours.

     

    Each card is based on an anagram in which two colour names combine to form a third. Language is mixed like colour, yet the resulting colour follows a linguistic rather than a material logic. The number of letters in each source term determines its proportional share in the new colour composition.
     

    The operation is mathematically precise, while the meanings it produces remain open and associative. Mariatheresiengelb, for example, results from altherrenbeige and mais, creating an unexpected chain between imperial history, social stereotypes and everyday culture. In another linguistic monochrome, 'prune' and 'sable' combine to form 'bleupersan', connecting Persian blue with plum and sand.
     

    The archive plays on this dialectic between language and colour: a strictly logical operation opens a field of interpretation. Each card becomes both the record of a linguistic process and the point of departure for a possible artwork—a theory of colour derived from language.
     

    The front of each card presents the anagram, its numerical proportions and the corresponding colour fields; the reverse records definitions, associations and activation data. Together, the cards form a combinatorial archive in which linguistic and chromatic relations continuously reflect one another.

  • Shipping

    This artwork is produced to order. Please allow up to two weeks for production before dispatch. Shipping costs are calculated according to destination. The work is shipped in protective art packaging.

  • Suggestion

    A series of thematic archives is derived from the main What colours tell us about…? archive. Existing selections include:
    – Language
    – Art
    – Time
    – Philosophy
    – … If you are interested in a specific theme, let us know. We can determine whether the main archive contains sufficient material to compose a dedicated selection.

    Suggestion: PRINT EDITION: drachenblutrot
    drachenblutrot - BLECHROT + TUNDRA

€900.00Price
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