COLORS: what it is
A magazine, a series of CDs, documentaries, books and exhibitions

Established in 1991, under the editorship of Tibor Kalman, with the premise that diversity is positive but that all cultures have equal value, today COLORS is part of the publishing activity in Fabrica, Benetton's communication research centre. COLORS' editorial offices are situated in Fabrica's architectural complex, restored and enlarged by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, and it has a network of external collaborators in the four corners of the earth.

Pictures are, above all else, COLORS' expressive medium: a method that is universal and reaches the greatest number of people with a strong, immediate impact. Using this visual language, COLORS' themes alternate between the challengingly serious, such as ecology, wars around the world, the fight against aids, and the frankly frivolous such as shopping, fashion, toys, but each is seen from an unconventional, irreverent perspective.

COLORS is a quarterly magazine read by young adults across the world. It is sold in over 40 countries; until now, its three editions were published in four languages. A Chinese edition will be launched with issue no. 72, the fruit of an agreement with the publishing house China Intercontinental Press.

COLORS is also a website, one of the most popular and critically acclaimed sites on the Internet.

COLORS PROJECTS

Today COLORS is not only a magazine, it’s a way of communicating and of using diverse media languages to interpret the world. COLORS’ experience and cultural background have engendered numerous editorial projects.

COLORS Music: a music collection based on the idea that music, like images, is a universal medium, transcending barriers and reaching the greatest number of people with a strong, immediate impact. COLORS Music selects music from various geographic areas and presents it in a novel contemporary context. Nordic, Cumbia, Ottomanic, Rio Funk have already been produced in co-operation with Irma Records, a Sony Music international label.

COLORS Books: from the best-seller 1000 Extra/ordinary Objects or to 1000 SIGNS, published with Taschen, to the recent series with Skira Editore, the first of which is Hunger followed by Pagine Gialle. A complex publishing agenda made possible by, amongst other things, COLORS’ network of correspondents and photographers in over 50 nations across the world.

COLORS Exhibitions: COLORS has organised exhibitions in prestigious venues in locations including Florence, Rome, London, Istanbul, Madrid, Barcelona, Maastricht and Budapest.

COLORS Documentaries: A new generation of documentaries to bring attention to major, diversity-based themes and to give voice to the stories of ordinary people: from Hong Kong to Patagonia to the Rocinha slum, to the Aral Sea, which was in 2004 awarded the first prize at the Torino Film Festival 2004, in the documentary section. Furthermore, COLORS regularly co-produces documentaries with the Swiss TV channel RTSI, including Shanghai Shanghai (an unconventional portrait of the city that is a symbol of modern China), Margens (audiovisual diary of a journey on the streets of Brazil) and Siberia (to conclude the trilogy, after Patagonia and Aral, of documentaries about life in far-flung regions of our planet) which is still in the production stage.

www.colorsmagazine.com

November 2007