---
type: concept
title: Colourmarks
tags: [corporate-identity, appropriation, capitalism, visual-language]
related: [rozbeh-asmani, aesthetics-of-capitalism, litfasssäule-as-mass-medium]
created: 2026-07-13
updated: 2026-07-13
sources: ["output_cdfi/cdfi_uni_greifswald_de_bildende_kunst_lehrstuhl_neue_medien_und_angewandte_grafi.md"]
---

# Colourmarks

**Colourmarks** is an ongoing artistic research project by [[rozbeh-asmani]] that investigates the intersection of corporate branding, law, and collective memory.

## Core Concept
The project focuses on **corporate color branding**—the practice where companies register specific colors with the German Patent and Trademark Office to protect their brand identity and exclude competitors. Asmani argues that this commercialization of color infiltrates the collective memory of society.

## Artistic Methodology
Asmani "re-appropriates" these colors by stripping them of their associated logos, names, and products. By presenting these colors as abstract, contourless color charts (using screen printing, C-prints, and offset printing), he achieves several goals:
- **Enigmatic Presentation:** The colors become vague and indefinite when detached from their commercial context.
- **Demonstrating Unavailability:** By displaying these "occupied" colors in a public art context, he highlights the legal unavailability of these colors for any other commercial use.

## Public Implementation: Colourmarks Columns
The project extended into the urban space through **Colourmarks Columns**, where registered corporate colors were displayed on [[litfasssäule-as-mass-medium]] (advertising pillars) in Cologne and Düsseldorf. This used a randomized billboard-posting practice to release corporate colors for general public viewing, contrasting the legal exclusivity of the colors with their public visibility.