color as Data

In Joseph Albers, Interaction of Color, he states, “In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is—as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative me medium in art” [1]. I would further argue that color is a reflection of our social history [2], and in the realm of digital technologies and data visualization, color is as elemental as water is to life.

Below are links to two data-driven projects, which utilize color both as a digital material and as a digital product for cultural heritage communities. Color: Blue is a color reference dataset created from images obtained from the Rijksmuseum API. This data set lists the name of the image, the size and number of color channels it digitally displays, and an array of blue, green, and red mapping. As a prototype, Colors in Art—The Database is a case study that transforms the data from Color: Blue into a database which would enable artists, designers, conservators, and historians access to accurate RGB values of colors associated with works of art in their institution. In the wake of social distancing measures, a database like this is the first step into transforming images within a digital collection into a novel experience—a database that serves as a timeline of color.

1. Albers, J. (2013). Interaction of Color (4th ed.). Yale University Press.

2. Pastoureau, M. (2018). Blue: The History of a Color (2nd ed.). Princeton University Press.