The MUN invites you to explore color and pay attention to differences

The University of Navarra Museum is embarking on a new phase of its “ project ” (Art in the University) initiative, under the artistic direction of Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, with “En vivo y en directo: color, percepción y experiencia”(Live and Direct: Color, Perception, and Experience), the “ exhibition ” (Art in the University) exhibition that opens this Wednesday and will be open to the public through February 7. “ sample ” offers a journey through the different ways in which color behaves, transforms, and shapes our perception, through works by Josef Albers, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Karina Peisajovich, Anoka Faruqee & David Driscoll, and Los Dalton.

Curated by Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, art director r at the MUN, and Nathaniel Barrett, philosopher and researcher at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) at the University of Navarra, “ exhibition ” explores color as an active experience. Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, art curator at the exhibition, proposes viewing color as a phenomenon that changes and transforms depending on light, space, and movement. And Nathaniel Barrett, academic curator, adds that “the core of the exhibition is the experience of how colors behave.” From this perspective, the sample presents color as an event that evolves over time and space, and that interacts with its context and with visitors.

The “ exhibition,” which occupies the entire “ Floor -1 ” of the building designed by Rafael Moneo, offers a journey that begins with modern art’s explorations of color and extends to contemporary approaches that continue to explore its ever-changing nature. The journey begins with a seminal 20th-century work, *Interaction of Color*, by Josef Albers—a key figure in color theory—and with Carlos Cruz-Diez, whose work investigates color in light. In his work *Chromosaturation*, he takes this “ research ” to an installation consisting of three spaces illuminated in red, green, and blue, which alter the chromatic experience as the visitor moves through them. These early works demonstrate how modern art ceased to view color as a quality subordinate to form and began to consider it as an experience capable of transformation.

The exhibition continues with contemporary works by Karina Peisajovich, Anoka Faruqee & David Driscoll, and the Los Dalton collective, who bring this “ research ” into the present day with works related to light, structure, and individual experience. Peisajovich explores the interaction between light-based and pigment-based color systems; Faruqee & Driscoll, through their “Interference Paintings,” explore—us Structures s of concentric circles—optical effects of vibration and movement; and Los Dalton focus on individual differences in color perception with their work *Línea*. This is the “ result ” of a participatory art event held at the MUN on September 15, in which 30 volunteers with color blindness were invited to continue a line of color on the walls of the “ conference room,” selecting, from paint samples, the shade they considered most similar to the previous section. The “ result ” highlights how the same color can be perceived differently by each person.

Thus, the works do not function as isolated creations, but rather as different approaches to the same phenomenon. The exhibition also extends to the museum’s atrium, where an interactive space invites visitors to experience some of the phenomena explored in the “ exhibition.” This approach is further expanded through science in collaboration with the University of Navarra Science Museum, which will open “Color” on October 8 . An Explosion of Science, an sample that will explore color from a scientific perspective. Both initiatives, linked by the same subject matter— research —offer two complementary approaches to the phenomenon of color.

exhibition . Expands the MUN Collection

The dialogue between art, philosophy, and science explored in *Live and Direct: Color, Perception, and Experience* also finds its continuation in the MUN Collection. To mark the opening of the exhibition * exhibition*, the museum has added two works to its collection that are featured in the exhibition: the silkscreen prints from *Interaction of Color* by Josef Albers, part of the original edition published by Yale University Press in 1963, and *RGB/CMY* by Karina Peisajovich. Both works expand the collection’s representation of the “ research ” developed by Albers within the context of modern art and its continuation in contemporary practices. Thus, from now on, the major thematic “ exhibition ” of the year at the MUN—such as the one currently being presented—will contribute to the growth of the MUN Collection.

Upcoming events related to the sample

The “ exhibition ” is complemented by the publication of* Catalog : Live and Direct—Color, Perception, and Experience*, which features essays by authors such as Tina Carita Rosenqvist, Julia J. C. Blau & James Dixon, and Richard O. Prum, as well as essays by curators Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro and Nathaniel Barrett.

In addition, inspired by this sample and as result of their participation in the Museum’s performing arts residency program, *Resonancias* will premiere on October 23 and 24. A performance by Yaiza Pinillos and Olga Pericet, presented in the exhibition halls, that translates some of the issues raised by the “ exhibition ” into the realm of movement and sound. The piece incorporates costumes and objects designed by Yaiza Pinillos at partnership with students from the Fashion design at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the University of Navarra.

The program will continue in the coming months with an interdisciplinary series of lectures organized in collaboration with the Science Museum at Civivox in Iturrama for the general public. Workshops and meetings with artists, supported by the Pamplona City Council, will round out the lineup of activities related to the “ sample.”

Live and Direct: Color, Perception, and Experience

Artists: Josef Albers, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Karina Peisajovich, Anoka Faruqee & David Driscoll, and Los Dalton, a collective consisting of Miguel Fructuoso, María Sánchez, and Miguel Ángel Tornero.

Curators: Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro and Nathaniel Barrett

Produced by: University of Navarra Museum

Dates: September 16, 2026 – February 7, 2027

Location: rooms at the Floor -1

Press site: https://museo.unav.edu/prensa/en-vivo-y-en-directo-color-percepcion-y-experiencia