Interview about Flow With The Sprit Of Water Public Art, winner of the A' Fine Arts and Art Installation Design Award 2020
Often community environments are polluted by the inter- and intra-personal dissonances of their inhabitants which results in visible and invisible chaos in the surroundings. The unconscious effect of this disorder is that inhabitants regress into restlessness. This habitual and cyclical agitation influences the body, mind, and spirit. The sculptures guide, groom, purify, and strengthen the positive "chi" of a space, focusing on pleasant and peaceful outcomes. With a subtle shift in their environment, the public is guided towards a balance between their inner and external realities.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsBecause I’ve found that spending an entire day inside artificial spaces made of concrete boxes makes me feel especially stifled, yet when I go into a forest or rest on the grass under the shade of trees, feeling the breath of the blue sky and white clouds, I become filled with vitality. Therefore, I believe that if we can bring the vibrant frequencies of nature into environments surrounded by glass curtain-wall buildings, it would be a wonderful way to transform negative energy into positive energy. That’s why I translate the energy I experience from nature into abstract, flowing lines to create sculptural works that resonate and harmonize with the natural world.
Because the Chang Yi Technology Industrial Park is a commercial office complex housing thousands, even tens of thousands, of high-tech engineers, their work is often filled with tremendous pressure. The location of the public art installation is on a 20-by-30-meter reflecting pool in front of the park’s clubhouse, which serves as a dining and resting space for these engineers. We hope that the scale of the public artwork can achieve a balanced proportion with the pool, while also providing a strong flow of positive energy to help relieve the engineers’ work-related stress. Ultimately, the sculpture was designed to be 6 meters tall, 8 meters wide, and 5 meters deep in order to create a truly powerful and resonant effect.
I’ve found that conflicts between people—or even within oneself—often arise from dissatisfaction with unmet expectations. If we can guide people to shift their perspective from an internal to an external viewpoint, their way of seeing things may change. However, I believe that trying to achieve this transformation merely through ideas or verbal communication is often futile. The most direct and effective way is through sensory experience. When people are moved by a feeling that’s different from anything they’ve felt before, their perspective has a chance to change.Through the use of mirrored stainless steel and flowing lines, I hope to reflect the shimmering ripples of water, the changing clouds, and the light and atmosphere from morning to dusk. In doing so, I wish to help people shift their focus from internal conflicts to external sensations of beauty and wonder—creating a moment in which conflict may naturally dissolve.
When we listen to a piece of music, our hearts often respond with waves of emotion or a sense of being moved. I realized that the rhythm and frequency of music influence our emotions deeply. Therefore, when we experience negative emotional fluctuations, we can tune and harmonize ourselves through the resonant frequencies of beautiful music. Inspired by the gestures of a conductor, I sought to express through rhythmic movement a sense of cadence that both soothes the emotions and radiates vitality.
We know that technological development always moves toward making life more convenient and efficient. However, beyond convenience and efficiency, life also encompasses emotional and spiritual needs. Therefore, while pursuing technological progress, we also need rich emotional experiences to guide us in using technology to nourish our inner spirit. Through art, people can gain emotional and spiritual inspiration—serving as an important compass for guiding technology toward enhancing the quality of human life.In particular, by creating a genuine connection with the energy of nature and expressing it through artistic form—allowing light to emerge from imagination, desire, and emotion—I hope the viewers can feel a warm and uplifting power.
I’ve always felt that artistic experience can transcend the boundaries of culture and ethnicity. For example, when I exhibited a series of works in New York, I had two memorable encounters: on separate occasions, two women were moved to tears upon seeing my different pieces. My works have always been abstract in form, without any figurative cultural symbols or narrative elements, yet they were able to evoke deep emotional responses. This experience strengthened my belief that within us, there is always a natural resonance with the frequency of nature. When that frequency is infused into the creative process, it allows the artwork to connect and resonate with people across cultural and racial boundaries.
I’ve always felt that an artist’s perspective and sensitivity can offer people broader and deeper forms of interaction and communication. Therefore, public art in a community space should go beyond mere decorative beauty or visual appeal. It can serve a more profound purpose—by allowing the artist to express feelings or insights that correspond to the community’s environment. Through the artwork, residents can experience new emotions, new thoughts, and new inspiration, bringing renewed vitality to the community and sparking fresh expectations and imagination among its people.
I believe that many viewers who encounter this work in person can intuitively feel a sense of flowing energy. It has, to a great extent, changed their stereotypical perception of public art in the environment. In the past, people often regarded public art as merely decorative landscape elements—something optional and superficial. But when they see this piece, they are often surprised to discover that public art can actually create a sense of emotional release and interaction with its surroundings.The dynamic, vibrant visual tension of the work draws them in, prompting a renewed awareness of the ever-changing environment—the shifts of light from morning to evening, the transitions of the seasons, and the continuous flow of life like moving clouds and water. It reveals that even a stationary stainless-steel sculpture can embody a sense of motion and vitality, offering people a fresh and inspiring experience of the space around them.
First of all, the form and structure of this work are designed to flow seamlessly from every angle. Combined with its mirrored stainless-steel surface, it easily reflects the ripples and light of the water, while also refracting the sky and surrounding environment from multiple perspectives. Throughout different times of the day and across the changing seasons, the piece reveals ever-shifting patterns of light and shadow, creating a continual sense of movement and transformation.
I believe this work creates a presence in the space that is impossible to ignore. So when those highly stressed engineers finish lunch, take a coffee break, and step outside for a walk by the pool or under the trees, their eyes are naturally drawn to the sculpture. Almost effortlessly, they begin to feel the flowing and vibrant energy it conveys.I’m convinced that, to some extent, it offers them a refreshing contrast to the sense of confinement and tension they experience inside their concrete office boxes. It provides an ideal opportunity to escape that pressure and unease—to relax, release inner anxiety, and shift their focus outward. Through resonating with the natural rhythm and atmosphere of the environment, they can regain an external perspective and reflect more calmly on their inner stress
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