Chroma Calls: attunement to place through colour intra-action in sculpture

Abstract

The paper discusses the public sculptural installation Chroma Calls presented along the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland, to consider how contemporary art practice can help initiate and develop attunement to a place by introducing colour through sculpture. It proposes the idea of ‘intra-action of colour’, drawing on the concepts of Josef Albers’ interaction and Karen Barad’s intra-action, to approach colour in more entangled and embodied terms and to bring forth invisible natural processes: from the presence of specific colours in a place, to the different ways of sensing colour, and associated ethical considerations. The author develops the concept of ‘accromatising’, derived from ‘acclimatising’, the process of becoming more accustomed or adjusted to new conditions or circumstances. ‘Accromatising’ describes the process of gradual attunement towards a place through colour. Ultimately, the paper suggests that colour can be used as an entryway into a more entangled and responsible sharing of places with humans and nonhumans, with art practice offering a platform for merging a range of disciplines to develop awareness of our environment, with its myriad other participants.