Pantone -500 + 2007 is a video installation by Cristina Lucas, comprising a mute 2D animation lasting 41 minutes that is screened in large format.

Against a white background, zones of colour appear, develop and merge until they form a map of the world as we know it today. Each coloured zone represents a geopolitical unit at a precise time.

This temporal marker is given by a counter located in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, on which the years scroll through from -500 to 2007 AD, at a rate of one year per second.

These images are the result of a data-collection exercise that took the artist herself two years of research, using atlases or other academic sources.

The term “pantone”, present in the title, refers to an international reference system using colours and numbers, used in graphic design and printing. Cristina Lucas establishes a parallel between the abstraction of this system – which correlates digits to colours – and that of the world map, where one colour represents one country.

The silent and intentionally aesthetic mutation of these 2 507 images contrasts with the political and historical realities underpinning these changes. While certain processes are peaceful, such as dynastic legacies or alliances, most are related to the use of violence, such as wars or invasions.

Where possible, Cristina Lucas accompanies the presentation of Pantone -500 +2007 with interventions from historians, who corroborate her work on the relativisation of historical events on a global scale.

Laetitia Rouiller
Translated by Yves Tixier and Anna Knight