Re:place: Colour in the City

Publicity photo from the exhibition

Colour in the City is an exhibition currently showing at Trondheim Kunstforening, featuring work by artists, designers and architects connected to the Light and Colour Group at NTNU, Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art. One aspect of the exhibition concerns the way that colour can determine our sense of place and can establish or underline the identity of a particular place and our responses to it. In the catalogue introduction, co-curator Alex Booker writes:

"Colour and materiality play an essential role in shaping our perception of place and identity, colour and material is information, it tells us stories about history, about identity, about territories and functions, about differentiation or belonging. Colour also informs us of the fluctuations of private and public economy and ideas iof social status over time. We absorb colour consciously and unconsciously into our narratives of place and its changing qualities in relation to weather and the seasons make it integral to our personal mythologies of locations and their atmosphere."

The exhibition includes photographic documentation of urban environments, plans and illustrations of architectural projects and public art commissions, and a number of individual artworks relevant to the theme. A large part of the exhibition is devoted to the city of Trondheim itself, and its changing colour characteristics. In addition to the informative catalogue, it would have been good to have a map or walking guide to enable visitors to go to the various sites that are documented in the exhibition. For my own part, I recognise many places, and will take an independent city tour. First I will make an iTunes playlist to accompany my tour. There are plenty of songs about colour and buildings, and first on the list is "Red House" by Jimi Hendrix!