Coloramas. Expansive chamber

With the opening on February 28th, 2025, COLORAMAS is an expansive chamber co-produced by Fundación Juan March and Aníbal Santaella, conceived specifically for the exhibition “Lo tienes que ver: la autonomía del color en el arte abstracto”. This immersive installation, with creative direction by Aníbal Santaella, reveals the fundamental concepts of color as a physical phenomenon from a scientific perspective, while also exploring how color has influenced philosophy, society, and, above all, art. It consists of nine synchronized monitors featuring a seven-minute audiovisual piece with surround sound. The exhibition will run until June 8th, 2025, at Fundación Juan March in Madrid, and includes artworks by Yves Klein, Malevich, Damien Hirst, Lucio Fontana, Wolfgang Tillmans, Dan Flavin, Carlos Cruz-Díez, Kandinsky, Olafur Eliasson, and Anish Kapoor, among others, as well as manuscripts, instruments, and treatises on color by Goethe, Newton, Turner, Ritter or Runge.

First extended reality experience at Fundación Juan March, one of the most influential private foundations in the cultural and scientific fields in Spain.

Images created with Artificial Intelligence and full CGI for an immersive display of 9 monitors connected via BrightSign, featuring 5.1 surround sound.

Slideshow images: © Dolores Iglesias Fernández / Archivo Fundación Juan March.

The experience

The project was created with the aim of complementing the exhibition and helping visitors assimilate the concepts of color. From this premise, we have designed a space that expands on key topics such as the physical properties of color, the electromagnetic waves that define it, the invisible spectrum of color, the phenomenon of color in the brain, major studies on color, how skin color has been used to establish privileges and exclusions, and how artists progressively granted autonomy to color beyond formal representation. In line with a recurring idea among great thinkers about color—that color can only be truly experienced—the final scene of COLORAMAS presents a synaesthetic journey through the color spectrum, created using artificial intelligence.

Script

Divided into 5 sequences, with a total of 12 scenes and 800 words, the script is one of the backbone elements of the project. Written by Aníbal Santaella, in collaboration with Félix Andrada, Manuel Fontán del Junco, and María Zozaya Álvarez, the text invites us to rediscover color as an element that transcends the visual, one that can only be experienced. We invite the viewer to close their eyes and reopen them with a new realization: color does not exist.

Set design

The chamber consists of nine 85-inch 4K monitors, arranged vertically in an inverted “U” shape. The space is a tribute to zoetropes and the structured distribution of the color wheel. Placing the viewer at its center, COLORAMAS creates an environment where the monitors function as windows into an extended reality.Access is through a ramp with a translucent circle that hints at the content inside. The anteroom features two explanatory areas, illuminated with real-spectrum ultraviolet light.

Sound

With an original soundtrack by multi-instrumentalist musician and music producer Ruben Samama, music plays a fundamental role in this installation, guiding the visuals into mysterious and highly evocative environments. Based on the concept of a synesthetic closing experience, the visuals of the final scene were created in response to the music, allowing it to lead the colors toward a high-intensity crescendo. During the first six minutes, we hear the voice-over of Inés Vallejo, who narrates the script’s concepts, ensuring that even those of great scientific complexity are conveyed in an accessible and engaging way for visitors.

Context

Foundation

The Fundación Juan March, founded in 1955, is one of Spain’s most influential private cultural and scientific institutions. It has organized over 560 exhibitions, pioneered the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español in Cuenca, and established the Museu Fundación Juan March in Palma de Mallorca. Renowned for its commitment to the arts, music, and intellectual exchange, it hosts concerts, lectures, and research programs. Its legacy continues to shape Spain’s cultural landscape through innovation and excellence.

Exhibition

The exhibition “Lo tienes que ver: la autonomía del color en el arte abstracto” at Fundación Juan March explores the liberation of color in abstract art, showcasing nearly eighty works by Kazimir Malevich, Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana, Olafur Eliasson, and other key artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. Spanning painting, sculpture, installations, and video, the exhibition highlights the immersive expansive chamber COLORAMAS, which offers an visual experience that complements the exhibition’s narrative. The show will be open to the public in Madrid until June 8, 2025.
Images: © Dolores Iglesias Fernández / Archivo Fundación Juan March

Catalogue

Edited by Manuel Fontán del Junco and María Zozaya, published by Fundación Juan March, and designed by Underbau, this catalog includes all the works from the exhibition as well as texts by David Batchelor, Esther Leslie, and Paul Smith. It is available on the Fundación Juan March website.

Color does not exist // Color does not exist // Color does not exist // Color does not exist // Color does not exist // Color does not exist // Color does not exist // Color does not exist //

In 1979, Roland Barthes, referring to certain works by Cy Twombly, stated that color is “like an eyelid closing, a slight fainting.”

Exhibition overview.

Promotional video of the exhibition explained by the curators, Manuel Fontán del Junco and María Zozaya, featuring Paul Smith (art researcher and collector) and Aníbal Santaella (creative director of COLORAMAS).

Processes

Step by step

The project followed a structured production process organized into four interrelated phases, ensuring a high level of control: pre-production, production, post-production, and installation. A total of 27 milestones were achieved under a detailed schedule with weekly approval rounds. From the outset, the piece was conceived as an artistic-technological ensemble, with a schematic conceptualization that allowed for the previsualization of both the space and the monitor content.

^{Music: Kodachrome, Paul Simon}

Tech

Tech approach

The installation features nine 4K monitors, with a total video resolution of 10K (10154 × 1920 px), adding up to 19.5 million pixels. Video and 5.1 audio synchronization is managed through dedicated BrightSign hardware, using a pipeline specifically designed for COLORAMAS.

Software

Space concept design. Blender // CGI & animation. Cinema 4D // Motion. after effects // AI. Runway

Credits

COLORAMAS. Expansive chamber

A coproduction by Fundación Juan March & Aníbal Santaella.

Creative Direction. Aníbal Santaella // Script. Aníbal Santaella, in collaboration with Félix Andrada, Manuel Fontán del Junco, and Maria Zozaya Álvarez // Voice. Inés Vallejo // Design. Ángela Juarranz // CGI & animation. Serial Cut // Music. Ruben Samama // Reproduction Rights. Alexandra Thige
With the collaboration of the Technology Department of Fundación Juan March (Ricardo González, Cristian Sape, Hugo Martínez, Pedro Palacin Ruiz de la Escalera, Antonio José Luna Morales)

Reproduced artwork

JOSEF ALBERS, Homage to The Square: Intrepid // 1950. Private collection. Courtesy of Galería Guillermo de Osma, Madrid ROSA BRUN, Sávalo // 2013. Rosa Brun Collection ANGÉLICA DASS, Humanae // 2012-present. Angélica Dass Collection WALDO DÍAZ-BALART, Summer is already here // 2009. Private collection EQUIPO 57, Untitled //1961. Galería Rafael Ortiz, Seville LUCIO FONTANA, Concetto spaziale // 1962. Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milan RUPPRECHT GEIGER, 666/73 // 1973. Archiv Geiger, Munich JUAN GENOVÉS, Tres círculos // 1969. Estate of Juan Genovés, Opera Gallery JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE, Sechszehn Tafeln zu Goethe’s Farbenlehre und Siebenundzwanzig Tafeln zu Dessen Beiträge zur Optik nebst Erklärung // Stuttgart and Tübingen: J. G. Cotta, 1842. Paul Smith Collection JOHN HAYTER, Portraits of – Hayter, senior, and three young artists (A Controversy on Colour) //1823. Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead CARMEN HERRERA, Untitled Estructura (Green) // 2015. Courtesy of Museo Helga de Alvear, Cáceres SHEILA HICKS, Burnt into my Memory // 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris VASILI KANDINSKY, Cossacks // 1910-1911. Tate ELLSWORTH KELLY, Yellow Red Curve I // 1972. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid YVES KLEIN, Untitled Anthropometry (Ant. 74) // 1960. Private collection. Courtesy of Archives Yves Klein, Paris.

Reproduction Rights

© Ellsworth Kelly Foundation · © Equipo 57 · © Estate of Carmen Herrera · © Fine Art Images / Bridgeman Images · © José María Yturralde · © National Galleries of Scotland / Bridgeman Images · © Otero Pardo Foundation · © Science Museum, London. UKSSPL/UIG / Bridgeman Images · © Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, UK North East Museums / Bridgeman Images · © Tate · © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation; Rosa Brun; Angélica Dass; Waldo Balart; Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milano by SIAE; Rupprecht Geiger; Juan Genovés; Sheila Hicks; The Estate of Yves Klein; Frank Stella/ VEGAP, Madrid, 2025