「The Glow Shenzhen」｜ Exhibition Works
As a special segment of the 2023 Shenzhen Light and Shadow Art Season, the Futian Central District Light Show was curated under the artistic advisory of Mr. Shen Shaomin. Collaborating with six groups of artists from China and abroad, the project transformed architecture into canvas and light into brushstrokes. Against the 270-degree ultra-wide “skyline screen” formed by landmark buildings in Futian's central area, the city was envisioned as a living, breathing organism. Through dynamic light and shadow, the artists painted a vibrant portrait of Shenzhen’s Photosynthetic Imaginations.
Chapter One – Organic Cellular City
Organic Light Shenzhen
Vitality, iteration, connection, integration, innovation... The creators infused their impressions and feelings about Shenzhen into the work, using algorithmically generated “Light Shenzhen Cells” as the central element and metaphor. Around these digital cells unfolds a dynamic performance of interwoven light and sound. The piece aspires to offer people living in contemporary cities a chance to experience the life force of this newly imagined organic entity.
Chapter Two – Digital Life, Emotional Algorithms, Technology for Good
Digital Aura
In the evolution of human civilization, the rise of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and smart cities is more than just cold technology. Concepts like digital life, emotional algorithms, technology for good, and synthetic models reflect a new kind of warmth radiating through the screen. Could this “digital being”—whose very existence depends on algorithms, code, and rules—give rise to a spark of romance, a glimmering digital aura?
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Chapter Three – Smart City, Ecological City, Poetic City
Multidimensional Iteration
The work adopts a “tech blue” colour palette, inspired by the blue spectrum of light essential to plant growth, symbolizing the integration and symbiosis of urban ecosystems. Through abstract expressions of planets, cells, and data, the piece mirrors the convergence of nature, ecology, and intelligent technology, envisioning the iterative evolution of the city of the future.
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Chapter Four – Speed, Colour, Dreamscape
Brilliant Variations
We use colour to express speed, crafted through the interplay of light’s wavelength, frequency, and energy. These vibrant colours are not only powerful triggers of emotion but also a reflection of Shenzhen’s dynamic urban spirit. This performance aspires to embrace everyone with the full energy and vitality carried by colour, offering a brilliant variation of the modern cityscape.
Chapter Five – Urban Energy, Digital Information, Waveform Scores
Waveform Spectrum
This work uses radiating beams aligned with the building’s form to redefine its growth through light. Sound is woven into the rhythm of this architectural evolution, “playing” musical notes across the building’s surface. Architecture, light, and sound drive each other in harmony, transforming the shifting structures into vibrant, living entities, as fluid and dynamic as waves of light and sound, together composing an energetic waveform spectrum.
Chapter Six – Starry Sky, Nature, Original Intention, Infinite Blessings
Infinite Fortune
Sun and moon, living beings, cities, celestial bodies, seeds, and starlight—spanning from ocean to city, from earth to sky—this work weaves them into a radiant galaxy that symbolizes the flow and evolution of civilization. The starry sky above Shenzhen becomes a window for reflection and a two-way portal connecting past and future. To witness a brilliant starry sky in the heart of the Greater Bay Area is a rare blessing—an infinite fortune gifted by the miracle of Shenzhen.
Interactive Design
A Grove of Swimming Trees (《一群游泳的树》)
Under the night sky, warm glowing swim rings shine like stars—gently suspended from the trees and floating in a virtual pool of water. They seem like dreams waiting to be awakened. As visitors step into this imagined aquatic space, the rings shift and glow, as if sensing the ripples of movement, awakening a dormant wave. Like pebbles dropped into a pond, their presence triggers a cascade of light and shadow transformations.
The swim rings respond with rhythmic, breathing pulses of light—mimicking shimmering reflections on the water's surface. This flickering is more than just a physical reaction; it’s an emotional and perceptual resonance. In this moment, each visitor becomes a creator—their presence stirs unseen ripples across the invisible water, blurring the boundary between observer and participant.
These ripples are not merely surface disturbances—they are intersections of time and space, a dialogue between being and non-being. As Heidegger once said, “The world is the open realm of being.” This interactive design dissolves existence, accentuates boundaries, and transcends the everyday. It blurs the line between subject and object, interior and exterior, using the body as a medium of perception.
In this intangible pool, every step and every gesture subtly alters the world around the participant. The unseen ripples and glowing swim rings respond to their existence, becoming a journey of exploration—a quiet, poetic inquiry into presence, perception, and connection.
「The Glow Shenzhen」｜ Zengcheng Exhibition Area
The Walking Tree
Walking souls.
Three softly glowing white trees drift across the dark surface of a nighttime lake, carried by the wind.
Each moves on its own path, tracing a unique trajectory—like three independent souls.
They gaze quietly in the shadows, offering warmth to one another in the darkness.
Each is searching for something, though none knows exactly what.
And yet, within the blackness, each finds its own light, its own sense of solace.
But they are rootless—vulnerable to the wind, ready to be scattered at any moment.
They move in different directions, illuminating one another along the way.
Rootless, yet full of life.
