Carlos Cruz-Diez (b. 1923, Caracas; d. 2019, Paris) is a central figure in the history of late 20th-century art. His investigations into the ephemeral and ever-changing nature of color positioned him as a pioneer of kinetic and Op art. Through his experimental use of light, movement, space, and viewer participation, Cruz-Diez challenged static notions of visual art, encouraging what he described as “an awareness of the instability of reality” and advancing a new vision of art as an active, perceptual encounter.
Chromosaturation is an immersive installation that reimagines color as a lived, bodily experience. Conceived in 1965, the work comprises three interconnected chambers, each illuminated in a single hue: red, green, or blue. Immersed in this monochrome environment, the viewer experiences a kind of retinal overload, confronting the limits of visual perception. The work underscores color as an inherent property of light––a physical, temporal phenomenon that unfolds in real time as the viewer moves through the space.
By reimagining color as an embodied encounter, Chromosaturation exemplifies Cruz-Diez’s vital role in the experimental practices of the 1960s and ’70s, which shifted the focus from static art objects to participatory situations that engage the body, the senses, and subjective experience. His radical approach to perception anticipated the immersive and experiential strategies that define much of contemporary art today.
