Gigglebit: The full spectrum of the RGB colourspace in book form

24 Feb 2015

Photo via taubaauerbach.com

With Gigglebit, we turn the spotlight on amazing content from the world of science and technology, to help start your day on a good note.

Today’s Gigglebit highlight is one for the design geeks: a real-life three-dimensional realisation of the RGB colour-picker any digital artist will be familiar with.

Artist Tauba Auerbach’s RGB Colorspace Atlas consists of three volumes, with each tome totalling 3,632 pages.

These three 8-inch cubed blocks of digital offset prints offer a compelling page-turner depicting all possible variations of the RGB colourspace, printed on Mohawk Superfine paper and enclosed in airbrushed cloth covers.

The binding of the book sculptures was co-designed by Daniel E Kelm and completed with assistance from Leah Hughes at Wide Awake Garage, an independent bookbinder in Massachussets.

RGB Colorspace Atlas, Tauba Auerbarch

Photo via taubaauerbach.com

New York-based Auerbach draws much of her inspiration from mathematics and physics and she first exhibited RGB Colorspace Atlas as part of Tetrachromat, a 2011 exhibition initiated by Bergen Kunsthall, Norway and curated by Solveig Øvstebø. The exhibition played on the idea of tetrachromatic vision – that is, perception of colour beyond the red, green and blue (RGB) colourspace.

RGB Colorspace Atlas, Tauba Auerbach

Photos via taubaauerbach.com

Tetrachromat was also exhibited at Malmö Konsthall, Sweden in 2012 and the Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Belgium in 2013.

Below, an animation by Jonathan Turner gives you an idea of what it would actually be like to flip through just one volume of RGB Colorspace Atlas.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com