Titanium white in paint/TiO2 project

“Titanium white in paint”: Research is conducted on the history of the groundbreaking Norwegian invention—the extraction of the pigment TiO₂ and its introduction into paint. The archives of the Kronos Titan factory are compared with the private archives of the Norwegian paint company Alf Bjercke. The investigation is carried out by researcher and paintings conservator Barbro Wedvik in collaboration with the TiO₂ Project. First stage is archival research on the early history of TiO2 in paint.  How was the paint introduced and used on the market?

The TiO2 project studies the chemical compound titanium dioxide (TiO2), today the world’s most used white pigment through history, first patented for industrial production in Norway in 1909. The objective of the TiO2 project is to critically and visually investigate the cultural and aesthetic preconditions of TiO2 through arts-based methods that merge artistic research and art history and theory.

“Titanium white in paint” is a NIKU Strategic research institute initiative.

The TiO2 Project is divided in two sub-projects and consists of the artistic research project ‘TiO2: ‘The Materiality of White‘ (MoW) led by Marte Johnslien, the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and ‘How Norway Made the World Whiter’ (NorWhite) led by Ingrid Halland, University of Bergen/University of Århus.

Project Manager: Barbro Wedvik