Live and Direct: Color, Perception, and Experience

Image: Carlos Cruz-Diez, *Chromosaturation*, 1965/2019. Bridgeman Images, Paris 2026

 Sept. 16, '26 - Feb. 7, '27
Artistic Curator: Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro
Academic Chair: Nathaniel Barrett
Location: Rooms on Level -1

Did you know that color interacts with its surroundings, and that this affects the way we perceive it? And that color is closely linked to pleasure? This exhibition aims to shed light on all these mysteries surrounding the perception of color.

After centuries of history and scientific debate, color remains a mystery. There is no scientific theory on the nature of color that enjoys widespread consensus, and philosophers continue to debate its nature and reality, while artists have accumulated a vast body of practical knowledge on how to handle, combine, and use colors.

"Live and Direct: Color, Perception, and Experience" builds on this observation and explores how the interactivity of color can transform our understanding of its nature, its role in perception, and our aesthetic enjoyment of it.

The exhibition draws on the work on color by Josef Albers, an artist and professor who developed a series of exercises to train the perception of color as a relational phenomenon. His work *Interaction of Color* demonstrates how identical colors can appear different depending on their surroundings. Despite his enormous influence on all of 20th-century art and design, Albers has been overlooked by the philosophy of color, reflecting a tendency in this field to view color as an isolated, stable property inherent to objects, rather than as a dynamic, contextual phenomenon.

It also explores how color is not a static attribute, but rather an active tool for perceiving shapes, textures, depth, and lighting. The text proposes the ecological approach to perception, developed by the American psychologist James J. Gibson, which holds that perception arises from the dynamic interaction between the organism and its environment, and that visual information is obtained through streams of stimulation generated by movement.

The exhibition also explores the crucial role that the enjoyment of color plays in perception. Far from being a trivial matter, color’s ability to evoke pleasure—especially through its contrasts and interactive relationships—may serve a perceptual function by guiding attention and enriching the visual experience. This link between perception and pleasure is evident in art, where artists explore and refine these relationships to elicit emotional and aesthetic responses.

Through an innovative combination of works of art and a series of “experimental modules,” visitors will be able to explore the interactive properties of color in this exhibition. Thus, the project seeks not only to deepen the theoretical understanding of color, but also to enrich the public’s experience by connecting art, science, and philosophy around a phenomenon that is as everyday as it is fascinating.

Related activities

Would you like to learn more about THE SECRET LIFE OF COLORS?

• Masterclass, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m.
   
• Be sure to also visit the exhibition “Color: An Explosion of Science” at the University of Navarra Science Museum. An exploration of the nature of color from a scientific perspective.