Noticing Colour: Shades of Chromatic Empiricism

Situated in the multiple tints and shades of colour and organization, this chapter is dedicated to colour as organizational force, and to the implications of colour as process for noticing differently in the context of organization and organizing. Noticing colour as process implies staying attuned to its situated volatility and movement, eschewing attempts to reduce the study of chromatics to concerns with meaning and order. Based on colour writings of Goethe, Benjamin and Stewart, the chapter moves towards a ‘chromatic empiricism’ through the notions of situation, scene, attunement, estrangement, montage, and poetics. It ends with a brief note on old and new theories and the tyranny of the drawn line.