Interdisciplinary Foundation Edition

Abstract The document addresses color not merely as a visual property or formal element, but as an autonomous, generative principle that plays a determining role in the organization of pictorial systems, the formation of spatial structures, and the temporal organization of perception. Its point of departure is the understanding that color is not static visual data, but an event that unfolds through the interaction of light, material, movement, and the perceiving body, thereby shaping visual experience and the processes of meaning formation. The text establishes a conceptual and terminological framework grounded in the defining traditions of modern artistic color theory, with particular emphasis on approaches that interpret color as an independent organizing force rather than as a decorative or subordinate element. This framework serves as a historical and theoretical point of reference for understanding how color becomes a structuring factor in contemporary visual culture, especially within the context of algorithmic image production. The document does not constitute empirical research and does not seek to formulate new theoretical theses. Its task is to articulate an interdisciplinary foundation that connects artistic interpretations of color with questions of bodily perception, spatial experience, and the temporal organization of perception. In this sense, the text fulfills an orientational and framing function that enables the subsequent examination of color within various scientific and theoretical contexts. The conceptual framework developed within the Interdisciplinary Foundation Edition provides a direct foundation for research directions initiated subsequently, which examine the generative role of color not exclusively on a theoretical level, but within perceptual, developmental-psychological, and applied contexts. These investigations proceed from the foundational assumptions of the completed pre-research theoretical study titled “Color as a Generative Principle in the Work of Sonia Delaunay – A conceptual preamble on color theory in the context of algorithmic image production” (Version 9), as well as from the assertion established in the present document that color is not static visual data, but a temporally unfolding, bodily and spatial experiential event. This theoretical foundation enables the examination of how the relationship between color, memory, and temporality develops in children’s perception, with particular attention to experiences formed under natural, variable lighting conditions as well as within algorithmically generated, optimized visual environments. From the same point of departure, the pedagogical problematics of children’s visual and color perception become interpretable in environments in which sensory experience is increasingly mediated through screen-based, normative, and statistically regulated image systems. The framework further grounds the examination of how color perception develops during critical phases of neural and perceptual development, and how the processing of natural, continuously changing color phenomena differs from that of algorithmically produced, repeatable, and optimized visual stimuli. These research directions are situated at the intersection of neuroaesthetics, developmental psychology, and visual culture, while remaining conceptually tied to the understanding of color as an autonomous, generative organizing principle. In this sense, the present document does not conclude a research process, but rather establishes a stable theoretical and terminological foundation from which later, temporally subsequent studies can unfold in a coherent and consistent manner. ORCID Researcher Profile Open Science Framework project page