Chudi Zhang
Social Space - something else - the “cocoon”
Prompt: In this project, students are required to work in groups to finish a light installation that can interact with viewers with mood. Each person in the group is responsible for an individual part of the installation so that each part can work both independently and in combination. Material to do this project should be recycled (at least for the most part).
The shared idea of our work is “something else”. Each of us uses one umbrella as the structure to simulate some forms existing in nature. In this way our work is “neither artificial nor natural”. It can symbolize the bridge between the materiality world and the organic world. For my individual part, I make a cocoon covered by layers of different organic shapes. Some of the cloth from the umbrella was kept to form the shape of a butterfly’s wings. The word ‘cocoon’ can mean protection, but can also mean revival. The ambiguity of the definition can raise the viewer’s deep thoughts toward this artificial work that symbolizes nature. In this way, viewers interact with this installation.