PINK COLOUR SYSTEM by Nici Jost by Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost, 2016

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost, 2016 in collaboration with Fiocchi AG Lack- und Farbenfabrik

In the year 2000 I started collecting Pink, motivated by a personal attraction to the colour. Later, during my art studies, I began to realize and experience the emotional potential of this colour. It could irritate people, make them feel very emotional and affected them in ways that I had never imagined possible. I began to study the nature of pink in more depth. More then ten years later, the colour is not only omnipresent in my work, but it has also become an intricate part of my life. The „Pink Colour System“ is an attempt to systematically organize and categorize the colour. It not only emphasizes different hues and shades of Pink but also their historical, political and social meanings and the psychological effects it has on people and the reactions it provokes. I have categorized and named different and distinct shades of Pink according to my own system. This system includes political, social, historical and cultural elements and influences. By nature, Pink is very complex and controversial. It varies between delicate, tender, youthful, beautiful, sweet and natural to artificial, disturbing, disrespectful and offensive. By analyzing the nature of Pink, its distinctive characteristics, its history and the effect the colour has in psychology, poetry, literature; The idea of the “Pink Colour System” is to name and categorize, but also to distinguish the meaning and essence of ten pink shades. PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost

This “Pink Colour System” was created in collaboration with Fiocchi AG Lack- und Farbenfabrik. All colors can be purchased at their factory in Dietlikon.

F. Fiocchi AG Lack- und Farbenfabrik Alte Dübendorferstrasse 3 8305 Dietlikon fiocchi-farben.ch

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES: • Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, Flowers That Kill: Communicative Opacity in Political Spaces, Stanford University Press, California, 2015 • Dominique Grisard, teaches Gender Studies at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Book project: pinkstudies.com • Barbara Nemitz, Pink The Exposed Colour in Contemporary Art and Culture, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin, 2006 • Marilyn Stokstad, Art History – Revised edition volume two, The University of Kansas, 1999 • several Wikipedia entries THANK YOU: Dr. Isabel Balzer, Balzer Projects - Pascal Schulz, Fiocchi Farben - Georg A. Mattli, Treeproducts Gregor Preis - Robin & Solveig Jost.

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM Â© Nici Jost

WHITE PINK In this categorization, “White Pink” is inspired by the white skin colour. White skin is certainly not white. It has many shades and can more precisely be described as rosy, pink, peach or salmon. However, with the ideological and propagandistic influence of the US dream machine Disney, the colour „White Pink“ is modeled after Disney princesses, such as Snow White and Cinderella, symbols of absolute beauty, innocence; what every girl adores and desires.

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM Â© Nici Jost

SAKURA PINK Sakura– the cherry blossom. Every year, people, mainly in Japan, spend considerable time contemplating the “clouds” of pink blossoming trees and the flower petals that ripple down after only a few days. The Cherry Blossom Festival has been celebrated in Japan for over a thousand years. During the Russo-Japanese War (1904/1905), the fallen petals symbolized the first time soldiers sacrificed their lives for the Emperor. In 1912, the Japanese Emperor gave 5,000 Cherry Blossom trees to the United States as a gift, a symbol of friendship between Japan and the United States. The Cherry Blossom Festival is celebrated every year in Washington DC. In this process and the accompanying celebrations, not only beauty and eternity, but also pain and death play essential roles. This transience of the blooming trees increases their aesthetic aura, and provokes and highlights controversial sentiments of Pink.

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM Â© Nici Jost

CELL PINK This pink tone is based on the research of Alexander Schauss, a socio-biologist at the Naval Correctional Facility in Seattle (USA) and Daniela Späht, a colour designer from Switzerland. In the late 1970s, Schauss created the „Baker-Miller Pink“ by mixing one gallon of pure white indoor latex paint with one pint of red trim semi-gloss outdoor paint. Schauss argued that this specific pink hue has a tranquilizing and calming effect on the human psyche. By painting the prison cells in this colour, violent or aggressive prisoners were calmed. Later studies, however, have shown conflicting results on the effect of the colour. While the initial calming effect in some prisoners set in - most often it depended on the background of the prisoner – more often, an opposing effect was achieved after 15 minutes of exposure by the prisoner in the cell. 30 years later Daniela Späht remodeled the “Baker-Miller Pink” and named it “Cool Down Pink”. This pink shade has then been implemented in Swiss prisons, schools, psychiatric hospitals and institutions for mentally handicapped people. According to her research “Cool Down Pink” reduces blood pressure after only 1-5 minutes of entering a pink room. The name “Cell Pink” not only refers to the prison cell. In my categorization, this pink shade also refers to the human body- its openings and inner organs. Here, pink as the colour of life, sensuality and sexuality. No matter what skin colour, size, ethnic background and sex, the colour of intestines is always pink. It seems to be a component of equality and unification.

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM Â© Nici Jost

REFINED LIGHT PINK „Refined Light Pink“ has a higher white rational then the „Refined Bright Pink“ tone, which associates with perfection and pureness. The „Refined Pink“ shades are often used for products such as candy, sugar, diet or beauty items and water. It is also used for many girl’s toys, by Mattel, for example (the maker of Barbie) and Lego for girls. “Refined Pink” shades are very intense and stir our emotions and attract attention. I would even suggest that everyone could be attracted to this colour if social and cultural norms, models and expectation could be ignored. These products use cross-generational and cross-cultural attraction to stimulate our senses. Refined Pink looks like it would smell of flowers and taste sweet.

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM Â© Nici Jost

REFINED BRIGHT PINK „Refined Bright Pink“ is higher saturated than the „Refined Light Pink“ tone, which refers to passion and joy. The „Refined Pink“ shades are often used for products such as candy, sugar, diet or beauty items and water. It is also used for many girl’s toys, by Mattel, for example (the maker of Barbie) and Lego for girls. “Refined Pink” shades are very intense and stir our emotions and attract attention. I would even suggest that everyone could be attracted to this colour if social and cultural norms, models and expectation could be ignored. These products use cross-generational and cross-cultural attraction to stimulate our senses. “Refined Pink” looks like it would smell of flowers and taste sweet.

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM © Nici Jost

PINK COLOUR SYSTEM Â© Nici Jost

CONCEPT PINK When it comes to make the future tangible, architects and industrial designers try to make their designs and proposals look bright and shiny. Light and positive energy penetrates designs, forms, shapes and colours are highlighted. In the process of realization of often utopian and idealistic design, many of the expressive and highly emotional elements of a concept are falling victim to the restrictions of costs, mass-suitability and -production. I created “Concept Pink” as an homage to the unfulfilled dreams of a perfect future.

BLOC PINK This pink tone is used by activists and political groups such as Code Pink, Pink Cross, Pink Bloque. They utilize the strong impact of the colour, but also take advantage of its historical dimension and narrative component. It symbolizes strength in most perceived weak elements. A pink triangle was used by the Nazis to identify male homosexual prisoners. Therefore the colour received a negative „homosexual“ connotation among many men. To wear pink for a boy or a man is considered “gay” and unacceptable in many parts of society today. Paradoxically, yet within this controversial narrative, pink has become an international symbol of gay pride.

ROCOCO PINK The Rococo period, which originated in early 18th century in Paris, was characterized by pastel colour, delicately curving forms, dainty figures a light-hearted mood and men as well as women wore pink suits and dresses. Because the dye for materials was very expensive, not many could afford it therefore it was symbol for the upper social class. The delicacy and playfulness of Rococo designs is often seen as perfectly in tune with the excesses of Louis XV’s regime, designated to amusement and delight. The long dresses, very pompous, difficult to breath or move in. The “Rococo Pink” is a very sensual, elegant, mature pink tone.

EXPOSED LIGHT PINK Exposed Light Pink is a mixture of white base and pure pink fluorescent pigments. The fluorescent pigments appear very intense under normal daylight. The chemical structure of the luminous pigments causes the short wavelength colors (UV and blue) to be converted to longer frequencies of visible light. Even in twilight, when the light contains a very high percentage of blue, these colour shades have a very intense effect. For this reason they are also often used for markings in low light, fogy and misty situations on streets, in forests and on ski slopes. The intense luminance and chromatic colours were significant in the 60s, when the term “Neon” was introduces derived from the emerging fluorescent tubes, also called neon tubes. Neon colours have a cautionary effect, but also attract attention. In the 80s and 90s the bright neon colours where often seen in fashion and interior design and found their revival in the 2010s.

EXPOSED BRIGHT PINK “Exposed Bright Pink” is a mixture of magenta and pink fluorescent pigments. The fluorescent pigments appear very intense under normal daylight. The chemical structure of the luminous pigments causes the short wavelength colors (UV and blue) to be converted to longer frequencies of visible light. Even in twilight, when the light contains a veryhigh percentage of blue, these colour shades have a very intense effect. For this reason they are also often used for markings in low light, fogy and misty situations on streets, in forests and on ski slopes. The intense luminance and chromatic colours were significant in the 60s, when the term “Neon” was introduces derived from the emerging fluorescent tubes, also called neon tubes. Neon colours have a cautionary effect, but also attract attention. In the 80s and 90s the bright neon colours where often seen in fashion and interior design and found their revival in the 2010s.