Colour Space

The National Library’s exhibition area is to be transformed into a “Colour Space” for several weeks. From 9 November 2024 to 24 January 2025, the NL is presenting prints from Edition VFO (Verein für Originalgraphik) and from its Prints and Drawings department. The works will be juxtaposed in seven thematic areas.

Key Visual Farbraum — Key visual from the exhibition “Colour Space” (graphic: Sandi Gazic)

The exhibition “Colour Space” allows you to experience colour in two ways. On the one hand, the selection of works reflects the different ways that artists and printmakers from various regions of Switzerland use colour as a formative and form-giving element in their graphic oeuvre. On the other, the “Colour Space” offers a unique sensory experience and the chance to engage with a wide range of monochrome and polychrome graphic art.

Seven themes will guide you through the exhibition – colour spectrum, colour shade, colour library, colour palette, colour mix, colour material and colour variation. They shed light on the many and varied possibilities offered by the use of colour in printmaking processes and in the creation of graphic art.

The exhibition “Colour Space” has been made possible thanks to a generous donation from Edition VFO (Verein für Originalgraphik) in Zurich to the Prints and Drawings Department at the Swiss National Library. More than 50 contemporary prints from Edition VFO will be presented in a colourful dialogue alongside pieces from the Prints and Drawings Department collection, spanning the 18th to 21st centuries.