2024 - The light in shadow puppets

The light in shadow puppets
Xi’an, one of Chinese famous historical and cultural cities, has many scenic spots. Therefore, we chose the Datang Everbright City as the location for the installation, because it is themed on the prosperous Tang Dynasty culture, and shadow puppetry in Shaanxi reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty, which is consistent with the cultural concept of our designed installation. In the conceptual design stage, we placed the installation in the Zhengguan Square of the Datang Everbright City, so that when tourists walk on the streets of the Everbright City, they will see the installation when they arrive at the square. Under the action of internal lighting, the installation performs a scene of shadow puppetry for passing tourists, and the jumping shadow puppets also become the best medium for light, thus allowing tourists to experience the charm of traditional culture.
The shape design of the device comes from the shadow play box. Two opposite sides are the two-dimensional interior of the play box, and the other two opposite sides are the amplification of the shadow play scene. The shadow play puppetry is displayed on four sides with rotation, with different scenes and different visual effects. The device is mainly divided into three levels, the innermost level is glaze the middle level is shadow puppetry, and the outermost layer is curtain. glaze is suspended in the installation, and different shapes are refracted in shadow puppets and curtains to create halos of different colors and shapes. The shadow play level is composed of two parts: the traditional gear system and the sliding rail system. The lower gear provides power to the six sliding rails on the top through transmission. Each slide is connected with a shadow puppet, and the movement rate of different slides is different, which makes the movement of the shadow puppet produce diversity. The curtain is divided into transparent and opaque, through the curtain pulling movement, both can prevent the realization of staggered and can be viewed during the day, the light and shadow display surface is not affected by the outdoor environment. The light and shadow display effect of the device is in various forms. On the curtain, the light and shadow display effect of the glass, the shadow display effect of the wall is weakened, but the light and shadow display effect of the device shape is added.
Finally, as a traditional art form, shadow play is not only a visual enjoyment, but also a cultural and emotional exchange. With its unique artistic form, shadow play shows the Chinese traditional culture incisively and vividly. At the same time, such a folk entertainment is also more cordial. Therefore, in today’s era, we also hope to design such an installation to stimulate people’s understanding of traditional culture while realizing public entertainment, so that people can feel the warmth and wisdom of traditional culture in the colorful world of intertwined light and shadow.