Colour By Numbers

January 20, 2011

Living in Stockholm – well here’s your chance to colour the town red.

Colour By Numbers is a light installation situated in Telefonplan, Stockholm.
It was first inaugurated in 2006 but recently become permanent from January 14th this year.

The art piece is positioned in a 72-meter high tower, which over 50 years ago belonged to Ericsson, the telecommunications provider, and was used to test microwave antennas.
Since then the art college Konstfack has moved in and the area has become a hotspot for young artists, designers and creative entrepreneurs.

The tower’s windows are filled with coloured light, a mix between green, blue and red. What makes this installation interactive is that anyone can change the colours in the tower using their mobile phones – like a remote control (see instructions below).
Colours By Numbers also serves as a political statement, contributing to the debate of democracy and public space in Stockholm.

This ambitious art project was founded in collaboration between interactive designer Loove Broms, architect Milo Lavé and artist Erik Krikortz and can be seen live here

Instructions from website:
1. Call 020-720 200 and follow the instructions to colors the tower. The call is free and limited to five minutes. To see a live view of the tower as you change colors, click on the “live” tab above.

2. Select the floors you wish to colors by pressing the digits 0 to 9, 0 being the bottommost floor, and 9 the topmost. Finish by pressing #. At any time, you can press * to go back and change your selection of floors.

3. Colors the selected floors. Any colors can be created by mixing red, green and blue. The digits 1 to 3, the top row of numbers on your telephone, control red. 1 gives less red, and 3 gives more. The middle row controls green. 4 gives less green, and 6 more. The bottom row controls blue. 7 give less blue, and 9 more. On certain telephones (e.g. Iphone), you may have to press several times to change the colors. When you have finished colorings, you can press * to go back and select other floors

http://www.colourbynumbers.org

By Samuel Sweetman

Published by: The Swede Beat