This portfolio, composed in its entirety of three sets of thirty colored sheets of wallpaper, has a participatory and performative aspect: its owner has total freedom over how it is installed and displayed. Nicolai selected the thirty colors from the thousands of hues that have been standardized by Pantone, an international company that specializes in color. Pantone's book of color samples serves as a universal language for the graphic-art and design worlds. Calling into question this mass-produced and mechanized approach, 30 Colors allows for autonomy and choice.
Nicolai's interest in the role of design and visual and material cultures in contemporary society is at the heart of his work in sculpture, installation, environmental design, and artist’s books. He attempts to alter and transform social space through his projects and interventions and has created environments such as a park for skateboarding and a forest replanted to resemble a nineteenth-century landscape painting. As he does in 30 Colors, Nicolai frequently makes audience participation and interaction part of his efforts.
The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights since 1980, New York: The Museum of Modern Art , p. 200.
Gallery label from Geo/Metric: Prints and Drawings from the Collection , June 11–August 18, 2008.
Nicolai selected the colors for this project from the thousands of hues standardized by Pantone, an international company that specializes in color and whose products are widely used in the fields of art and design. He is fascinated by the effects standardization has had on artistic practice and by functional applications of color in everyday life. Nicolai encourages the owners of this print project to devise their own patterns for installation.
Explore more
From MoMA Design Store
Installation views
We have identified this work in the following photos from our exhibition history.
Licensing
Artwork or archival images
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
Audio and film clips
MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.
Text from a publication or the archives
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.