Light and Seedling Projection Mapping Show

Artist: Zhong Lyu
Location: Old building of Jiaxing Silk Knitwear Mill, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province (Cocoon warehouse of the Mill)

Year: 2021
Researcher: Zhang Yujie

This project is actively promoted by Jiaxing Municipal Government and jointly created by Zhong Lyu, Chief Engineer of Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute Institute, Atlas Hiseas and DIRTY MONITOR Digital Art Studio of Belgium, awhich is a large-scale visual public art project, and it is also an important part of Jiaxing's "Nine Rivers Connecting the Heart" project.The Jiaxing Silk Knitwear Mill, where the project is located, is an abandoned industrial building by the canal, which is located in Suzhou Pond in the "Nine Rivers Connecting the Heart" water system, and is a witness to the historical development of silk in Jiaxing.Jiaxing Silk Knitwear Mill which established from 1926, along with the history of several name changes, rising and falling for several times,, but also had created the famous trademark of "Golden Pyramid", which is still famous both at home and abroad. However, in the development of history, "Jiaxing Silk Knitwear Mill" cocoon warehouse as the old industrial relics gradually covered with vicissitudes.

The projection mapping show is an artistic creation displayed in the space of old industrial buildings. By interweaving a set of dark green and azure-colored line network, the artist team makes the two old buildings produce a new spatial dialogue, and under the backdrop of the night curtain, the projection mapping show tells the 'past and present life' of the canal culture of Jiaxing related to silk.The project was accomplished through interdisciplinary teamwork. The script was planned and designed by the team of Zhong Lyu, Chief Engineer of Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute, and the light show design was completed by Atlas Hiseas and DIRTY MONITOR digital art studio from Belgium.

In the visual creation, Jiaxing canal culture and silk intertwined with the warp and weft, Through the use of visual illusion of Jiangnan colors, the visual field of interactive narrative is interpreted through the combination of light, picture, sound and architectural space.Projection mapping show is a special shadow casting technique, by enriching the dimension of dynamic performance on the static building, creating a depth of visual illusion and change, usually combined with lighting, picture, music to achieve interactive narrative visual interactive effect. The projection mapping show of Light and Seedling architectural space is 15 minutes long, divided into Water - Light and Life, Silk - Light and Land, Wind - Light and Floating Shadow and Illusion - Light and Future and other four acts, presenting infinite changes of "City of Seedlings and the World of all things".

The first chapter, Water - Light and Life, shows a gentle rain gradually converging into a lake, gusts of water waves gradually reflecting ancient patterns. The citizens can review the history of Jiaxing with the picture of water flowing from the interweaving of light and shadow, and step into the ancient art of Majiabang civilization, which presents the cultural relics of Jiaxing.The second chapter, Silk - Light and Land, shows the beauty of the Oriental poetic realm drawn by the silk cocoon, with the silk brocade twisting and turning under the interlacing of the warp and weft, soft and lasting. The air of Jiangnan, under the penetration of light, reflects the poetic flavor of "five colors of Jiangnan", weaves a picture of rich farming and weaving in Jiangnan, and expresses the relationship between the unique silk culture of Jiangnan and the canal transportation.The third chapter, Wind - Light and Floating Shadow, shows "the light of floating shadow, caressing the ground." The citizens through the projection mapping show may see pictures of the city: fertile fields, thousands of hectares of lakes, night singing, fish leaping and kite flying ...more than one scene of the City scenery as if flowing floating shadow, crossing the time and space, meet the light, as in flipping through a three-dimensional book.The fourth chapter Illusion - Light and Future presents the light of the future. As the city flower of Jiaxing, pomegranate and azalea appear in the same scene, and the five colors representing "Colorful Jiaxing" will also appear at the end, showing the confidence and momentum of Jiaxing to move forward to the future.

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As a result of the renewal, the city will be created as a contemporary art gallery. The design team first judged its future direction, then predicted the development of the surrounding plots. Once the city has been slightly renewed an inventory of the city's existing foundations and resources is made, followed by a secondary renewal and operation. The main purpose of renewal is operation.As a result of the renewal, the city will be created as a contemporary art gallery. The design team first judged its future direction, then predicted the development of the surrounding plots. Once the city has been slightly renewed an inventory of the city's existing foundations and resources is made, followed by a secondary renewal and operation. The main purpose of renewal is operation.In the visual creation, with the industrial building plant as the base, the space superposition change is Light and Seedling architectural space projection mapping show conceptualization of the main line. It reflects the geographical mark of the canal, the functional transformation of the cocoon warehouse, the line is the memory of the cocoon warehouse, but also the space of the Nine Rivers, light and shadow intertwining, dreamy and bright, to realize the architectural space of the "butterfly change of the old and the new".In the musical composition, traditional Chinese instrumental music is fully utilized for interpretation. The silk and bamboo quintet is intertwined with a grand symphony, building a musical dialog between China and the West. In the sound design, many recordings from the nature of Jiaxing were also called upon, and many dreamy sounds were also created using rice paper as the core material.

This project is a practice of the artist's theory of "Landsenses Space", a design that starts from people's sense of spatial experience. With the proposition of "Visual and Landscape Narrative", the project explores the artistic and humanistic landscape created by light as a medium. The project interacts with images, lights, music and multimedia. It is a cross-border presentation of various professions, such as architecture and landscape, that links artists, the public, culture, places, and works of art, and intervenes in all aspects of urban public space as public art.The design adopts the design strategy of "symbiosis of the old and the new", emphasizing the reshaping of diversified functions, and implanting visual creativity, artistic interpretation and other cultural functions, so that the old rust factory is gradually transformed into a cultural and fashionable "showroom". At the same time, the building itself is also an expression of site art. The old building is naturally connected to the surrounding landscape, breaking the traditional concept of site boundaries and extending the boundaries of the public art work not only indoors, but also outdoors, attracting the public to perceive the art, experience the nature, and experience the vitality brought by the industrial metamorphosis.People require poetic stays and public spaces for socializing, fitness, games and other activities. Such images have created a spatial atmosphere and brought infinite imagination to the public; it is both a landscape work and a public art work. Besides the overall environmental enhancement, the team takes the public art as the highlight of the whole project, providing a grand and epic visual experience for the city, thus triggering empathy and resonance, perpetuating the historical lineage, and passing on the humanistic spirit. Abandoned industrial buildings were turned into Jiaxing's city card, which was well received by the public. The excellence of the project is reflected in the following aspects:The first is international cross-disciplinary cooperation, and the second is to emphasize the expression of commonalities in planning and content creation. In this project, DIRTY MONITOR Digital Art Studio (hereinafter referred to as "DM Studio"), one of the best digital art teams in Belgium, was invited to take charge of the design and creation. The team led by Zhong Lyu has played multiple roles in this project - director, planner, producer and art director.During the planning stage, a lot of research work was done on how to show Chinese culture to the world through the expression of Jiaxing culture and the flavor of Jiangnan, including visits to local archives and cultural centers, refining visual elements such as the city's culture and history, and writing a text script. And then the music composition of the visual scene conducted by DM studio, Rowe music studio, Finally, the words and music are interpreted as a base, and through the interpretation of visual images, the layers progress to the ultimate state of fusion of cross-border art. This is an artistic practice of visual narrative as the first, linking up space and image and integrating them with each other. "All art are forms of feeling that express human emotions", and vision and melody are never independent of each other. Public art is a visual expression of culture, a concrete presentation of cultural symbols, which should develop and progress together with urban space and daily life.

Progress Agency