as white as snow
as red as blood
as black as ebony
Colour and light are aspects of everything surrounding us.
Men developed names and symbols of nature‘s symphony of colour which have on the one hand been identical through time and space. On the other hand, however, there are also systems that are very different to these before mentioned. Some even contradict one another.
Nevertheless it is important to understand that each and every one of those theories function within their own context.
Thus I want to highlight the aspects of the colour red that are comprehensible and of importance to me.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whose colour theory is nowadays considered to be an esoteric one, argued that one had to experience the phenomenon of colour.
For me that is key – experiencing and feeling – which is why I approached the colour red by designing and felting three carpets.
Red is, without a doubt, the most exciting coulor there is. Red is belonging to our heard.
Red symbolises the emotional aspect, the “gut feeling“, of the scale.
Red is the colour of blood, the colour of strength and life, the colour of love and desire, the colour of power and aggression.
Red Movement as such
Red means unveiling oneself, being oneself, as one really is. No conditions. Do we know what that is like? What does it feel like? Naked, unfamiliar, powerful, longingly, fear stricken, always having wanted to be like that, no rather not, curious, finally arrived? In the summer of 1999 we invited participants to a felt symposium in Finland. A kind of childish amusement took hold of us:
Dressing up in red! How do I want to portray myself? Who am I? The goal of these three shared days was to create an installation – combined with performance. Three days to be engrossed in red perceive red.
Our strength and joy together with the power of Earth, humiliated and bound by the picture of hell, and on top of that, seized by the picture of purgatory of the Middle Ages, instrument of the Christian church. How deeply anchored this is.
Red – is laughter from your deepest soul, unrepressed, powerful
Red – is joy and liveliness
Red – is intensity and closeness
Red – has the power of forgiveness und transforming when paired with dedication
Red – is original power, Earth’s mighty power
Red – is perceiving with every single fibre of oneself, with every cell of our bodies
Red – is being present, unobtrusive of the past or future
Red – is Earth’s fire, being protected therein
Red – is fire, melting limits and boundaries, the courage and joy to give in to this
Red – is the essence of life
Red – is being one’s own, as all luminous colours
An enormous cylinder – like round room emerged, suspended from the ceiling, consisting of bright red pieces of shoe, felt from a Finish felt factory. Thus we caricatured the story of the danced‐through red shoes, allowing us to enter the red felt.
A common trust developed, a joint perceiving, together we are strong. Being able to cross one’s personal limits. Laughter within the group could be heard in the red room. Fun and power filled the red room during the performance.
Article for FELTMATTERS Issue 138 March 2020