One Color Each Day
Instagram, Social Media, Slow Art Project
One Color Each Day is an ongoing, slow-art project intended to demonstrate the perception of time through changes in values across color. The project started on May 1, 2015, lasting without interruption until February 2020, and resumed on March 11th, 2024. Posts are entered manually with semi-random geolocations based on current events or places of interest. This is not an automated, script-driven project.
Each day a color is posted, the change from the previous day being one change to one value of a color’s attributes that place it within color spaces based on the RGB color model, assuming a singular gamut. For example, a color can change value in the RGB space by incrementally changing R(ed), keeping G(reen) and B(lue) values constant. Following that, when a destination has been reached, the next sequence can begin by changing a value of the starting color’s value based on H(ue) S(aturation) V(alue), keeping two of the values constant. The changes can be made in any direction, with consistency, swapping between cylindrical-coordinate methods readily. If color were to be represented as a cylinder, the color posted each day is a singular point within the cylinder, moving slowly in a particular direction.
The objective is to demonstrate change, or time itself (time being simply a way to measure change). Things change over time, slowly, constantly. Only when we take a retrospective and holistic view can we truly notice change.
When the project started, Instagram’s approach was to show posts chronologically. When the “feed” area of Instagram showed posts according to a different algorithm-determined priority, the base intent of the project was partially lost. Regardless, the project continued on the assumption that, slowly, over time, the audience would notice a change.
A secondary benefit is a true dance through color change when the profile is viewed in full by scrolling across the pages of posts.
Attributes
Dimensions: 1080px x 1080px
Materials: Digital
Location: One Color Each Day on Instagram
Visit the One Color Each Day Instagram profile page, scroll up and down to see the results of time.