A Visit to Aqueous, Inspired by the Pantone Color of the Year

In an effort to always try to learn something new while traveling, my boyfriend and I recently visited ARTECHOUSE while in Miami Beach — an immersive installation experience created by media artists.

ARTECHOUSE is featured in New York City, Washington DC, and Miami Beach, and its mission is to inspire, educate, and empower. While each location has its own exhibit, the Miami Beach location features Aqueous, which aims to show the relationship of sound and movement through light and water. Aqueous is inspired by the Pantone Color of the Year, which was Classic Blue in 2020.

Pantone was one of the first companies to produce colored inks in the 1960s, and since then they've been considered the color gurus to graphic artists as well as interior, fashion, and product designers. More than 20 years ago, Pantone began introducing a Color of the Year — one they consider able to transcend any marketplace.

In 2020, Classic Blue was selected to remind us all about peace, relaxation, and sustainability through a time of change. Calming is exactly how you feel when you tour the Aqueous installation. Just a block from the ocean, this museum has been transformed with low lighting and ripples of blue in various shades and forms. The self-guided tour starts on the ground floor, where you experience a room with artwork activated through a QR code on your phone for an extended-reality experience. In the next room, you find yourself on a bench with 360-degree, floor-to-ceiling views of blue light that appears to be oceanic waves, with soft, trance-like music playing in the background. As you wander up the stairs, the walls are covered in a cellophane-like material that further enhances the feel of water. Once upstairs, you're met with about a dozen 6' tall screens that capture the audience and fuse the image into various forms of blue light.

There is no time limit once you're inside the exhibit, which further added to the sense of calm. The tour was a highlight of our trip and reminded me of the impact color has on the spaces we live and work in. Warm and cool colors spark very different feelings in the eye of the beholder, and understanding this theory of emotion was a welcome souvenir to bring home from vacation.