mischer’traxler

Kinaesthesia (noun, awareness of the position and movement of the parts of the body by means of sensory organs in the muscles and joints | from Greek kinein ‘to move’ + aisthēsis ‘sensation’).
In August 2019, fifteen international students and professionals met at the Domaine de Boisbuchet in France for a workshop with Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler of studio mischer’traxler. Following an invitation of the Designmuseum Gent, the purpose was to contribute to the museum’s Kleureyck exhibition with experiments on the relationships between colour and the human sensory perception.
mischer’traxler focused the experimentation on analogies of colour and our sense of movement (kinaesthesia), and they proposed to develop the work in four steps: At first, all primary and secondary colours – red, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and green – were to be matched with all kinds of qualities such as aggressive, natural, optimistic, spiritual, cool, surprising etc. A second step asked to transform these words into adjectives that describe certain movements: fast or slow, accelerated or retarded, steady or abrupt, as well as conditions, such as balanced, in between these. In the longest and most challenging third phase, each group of participants had to design and build one scenario, that allows to realize a colour by executing that movement which hence most accurately relates to a specific colour. The participant’s performance of all installations was then the last step and was recorded in film and photography.
The Domaine de Boisbuchet’s abundant nature as well as the teamwork of tutors, participants, and staff provided a perfect setting for this experience. Creative freedom within a social and environmental reference was indeed a fifth, unexpressed part of the workshop’s briefing. Essential for the success of this experiment, it yet didn’t need any request. The glory of nature and community are central topics also for the van Eyck’s masterwork, the Ghent altarpiece, which celebrates a harmony of people peacefully together in adoration of god as a piece of heaven on earth. The study of nature was Jan van Eyck’s hidden agenda, which established his reputation as a father of Renaissance art. It is also at the center of mischer’traxler’s work and of this workshop they conducted.