ABOUT ME
Color Isn’t Real
2024
Color Isn’t Real
October 2024
6” x 5” x 1.5”
3D nylon powder print model with three RGB spotlights
Created as part of How to Design (Almost) Anything at MIT
October 2024
6” x 5” x 1.5”
3D nylon powder print model with three RGB spotlights
Created as part of How to Design (Almost) Anything at MIT
This project explores behavior of overlapping RGB lights and shadow to show that color isn’t real through means of optical illusion. According to the Cambridge dictionary, color means “red, blue, green, yellow, etc.” and real means “existing in fact and not imaginary,” but red, blue, green, yellow, etc. exist only in our minds as a response to light by our nervous system, and are all imaginary as another way of understanding light. So, color isn’t actually real.
Research & Inspiration
Fascinated by color sensation and perception, I wanted to explore exactly how color is processed by our brains. In the process, I was absolutely stunned by the fact that color isn’t inherant to an object. Instead, colors are slight differentiations in light, that our brains turn into these visual cues as a means of better understanding our surroundings.