Exhibitions

COLORSCAPES

Cheekwood / 1200 Forrest Park Dr. May 7, 2022 - September 4, 2022

Luftwerk

COLORSCAPES is an immersive, site-specific installation by the Chicago collaborative Luftwerk. Exploring the perception of the physical world through color, the exhibition consists of a series of dynamic outdoor and indoor installations set along a prescribed path, unfolding across Cheekwood’s Bradford Robertson Color Garden, Arboretum Lawn, and Bracken Foundation Children’s Garden before moving up the portico of the Historic Mansion & Museum and into the more intimately scaled special exhibition galleries.

The German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner’s groundbreaking book Nomenclature of Colours, first published in 1814, outlined a taxonomic guide to the colors of the natural world and was a precursor to the modern Pantone system. Color—and more specifically Werner’s nomenclature of colors—serves as the conceptual springboard for this exhibition designed specifically for Cheekwood. In this unique context, COLORSCAPES explores how the historic yet fundamental scientific knowledge of color, perception, and nature informs and connects us to the natural world today.