Exhibition / IS CORAL A COLOUR?
Accompanying exhibition within BADW 2019, Zoya Gallery
The Is Coral a Colour? exhibition takes its name from a famous Polish tongue-twister Korale koloru koralowego…, which translates into English as ‘coral-coloured corals’. Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, the curator of the exhibition, looks at the question of whether a country or region’s colour palette can be established. What are the colours of the Czech Republic? Poland? Slovakia? How about Hungary?
The exhibition analyses colours used by Czech, Polish, Slovak and Hungarian designers and their designs – vases, cups, fabrics – to try to discern if there are certain colour patterns that emerge – pinks and blues, greens and yellows.
Simona Janišová, source: archive of BADW.
“Single colours are easy to see: green, blue, red. When put together, they cease to be unambiguous, they become a language. When asked about their colour choices, designers shrug. They say they choose what’s in fashion or what sells. However, this does not exhaust the topic. (…) How we see colours and how we use them consists of many factors. Lighting and our surroundings. The earth and the sky, cities and nature. Traditionally used materials and combinations that we were used to. The context is also extremely important in this region, marked by the gray of communist aesthetics. However, designers do not draw on tradition or nature. They reach for available materials and choose fashionable colours.” (Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka)
Monika Patuszyńska, source: archive of BADW.