10× Time-Lapse
One Day as an Emperor - 一日为皇 (Immersive installation)
Medium: immersive projector, sand, clear polyester. Software: Touchdesigner, Cinema 4D.
Music credit to: @B.A.Alexander. Dimensions-flexible
Short description
One Day as an Emperor is an immersive installation including a real-time generated animation of the Tiananmen Rostrum dissolving into molecular forms and a kaleidoscope-like animation projected onto the floor. It incorporates a camera-based interactive system that invites audiences to engage in real time. At the center of the space, a pile of sand covers a red carpet, with an hourglass suspended above. The work reflects on how political symbols change over time and how things that once appeared permanent can gradually fade or disappear.
Statement
One Day as an Emperor began with a question: what happens when political symbols that once seemed permanent start to break apart? The work is partly informed by Michel Foucault’s image of “a face drawn in sand at the edge of the sea,” which relates to the use of sand and molecules in the installation, and the idea that both political systems and individual identity can change or disappear over time.
The installation uses looping animation and repetition to show images forming and falling apart. Instead of presenting power as something fixed, the work shows it as something that is built, repeated, and slowly undone.
Rather than focusing on a single historical moment, the viewer experiences a process where familiar symbols gradually shift and lose their stability.
TouchDesigner made floor pattern
Installation View
30× Time-Lapse