This past week, Pantone announced its annual “Color of the Year,” Viva Magenta, an unconventional hue that’s red (but not too red), pink (but not too pink). Equally out of the ordinary was the launch itself, an immersive experience at Miami’s world-renowned Art and Design Week.
The South Florida exhibit, appropriately named MAGENTAVERSE, is the brainchild of Artechouse, a leader in innovative, technology-driven experiential art. Designed to allow visitors to “feet the power of a hue scaled to fantastical proportions,” the riveting installation provides an all-compassing, 3-D, theatrical-like experience.
While this is the fourth year Pantone has partnered with Artechouse to reveal its color of the year, this is the first time it’s in the form of an exhibition open to the public. “It really gets the idea of writing a new narrative with a color,” according to Pantone Color Institute executive director Leatrice Eiseman.
“We haven’t done red in a while for obvious reasons, but now we feel we’re really ready to excite the imagination.”
Viva Magenta utilizes what Pantone called a “fist in velvet glove” sensibility, striking a balance between elegance and aggressiveness. Not sure what that means? Pantone’s own description: “A pulsating color whose exuberance promotes optimism and joy. Powerful and empowering, it is an animated red that encourages experimentation and self-expression without restraint; an electrifying, boundaryless shade that is manifestly ‘out there’ and is a stand-out statement.”
Not surprisingly, there was much more in store for the color-obsessed at Miami Art Week.
Through the works of myriad artists, Tuleste Factory’s “Through and Through” exhibit provided a mesmerizing history of the color blue. Pieces on display in the visually stunning skylight room included artist Yonathan Moore’s lighting sculptures and Brandi Howe’s Biomorphic Mirrors. Another showstopper: designer Ian Alistair Cochran’s sculptural resin furniture.
Yet another colorful newcomer to Design Miami: renowned fashion house Bottega Veneta. Design pioneer Gaetano Pesce’s vibrant, multi-hued chairs — commissioned by creative director Matthieu Blazy for the Spring/Summer 2023 show in Milan — were available for purchase, both at the fair and the brand’s Miami Design District store.
The collection, named “Come Stai?” (Italian for “How are you?), comes with a backstory.
A bold expression of 82-year-old Pesce’s lifelong quest for individually and diversity, each one-of-kind chair was designed individually.
“This space is a tribute to diversity. It is about the human being. We are all different and this is our defining quality. Otherwise, we are just a copy,” said Pesce.
