Biolab contextualizes colour in contemporary art and design questioning its related environmental issues. Laboratorium identifies the environmental impact of the colour industry and envisions the shift towards a sustainable approach in colour. Current research is focused on finding alternative materials for the colour industry, but does not question what colour should be or how to interfere in production and application. 

Laboratorium’s first research line ‘Living Colours’ focuses on the development of a time-based colour palette of algae pigments. Once applied these living colours fade and change. How can algae pigments be used as an analogue smart ink? The lab experiments with screenprinting, penplotting and 3D printing to apply the pigments into different disciplines.

The second research line ‘Structural Colours’ rethinks colour generation structurally. Structural colouration produces colour by microscopically structured surfaces in fine layers that interfere with light. In nature structural colours are responsible for iridescence which find their fuction in camouflage and mating. This research positions KASK & Conservatorium as the first institution applying this technology in arts and design. Structural colours are grown by creating synthetic melanin in the lab. The structures are applied onto ceramics, glass, paper, textile …