emmanuelle moureaux's 'color of time' is like entering a rainbow matrix

TOYAMA — the first sign of color has made its way into the sky. it is 06:30, on november 16, 2017. the inspiration for ‘color of time’, by tokyo-based artist emmanuelle moureaux, has begun. 799 minutes pass by. 99 colors are documented. now, it’s 19:49. astronomical twilight has occurred, and the final shade, 100, blackness, has been recorded — at toyama prefectural museum of art & design, this flow of time, perceived through the constant journey of 100 colors, is on display.

all images by daisuke shima

part 2 of the toyama prefectural museum’s opening ceremony exhibition introduced wood, metal and new, forefront materials, but moureaux’s color of time proves the beauty of a material as commonplace as paper. ‘color of time’ superimposes a sensory element (color) with a mathematical one (time).

approximately 120,000 numeral figures from ‘0’ to ‘9’, a single symbol ‘:’ — these figures, aligned in grids, seem dense, but they merely express the movement of minutes. seconds, hours, days, years, milliseconds, and smaller — the installation’s 100 layers flow from left to right. the top-most front-layer starts pale, at sunrise. paper pieces gradually grow darker as one follows beneath a tunnel of digits. the installation nears darkness. at 19:49, astronomical darkness is displayed by a first time color for emmanuelle’s work — black.

within the tunnel, an indoor sky is tinted with a beautiful gradation. the colorful flow of time is subtle. here, traveling through it, time is tangible, loud, overwhelming, and peaceful.