The Rock Garden is a vital part of Chinese History. It has existed in our culture for thousands of years and represents many philosophical ideology as well as poetic inspirations. Water is an element that is predominant in the garden design while it also represents fortune entering into the premises it is featured. I wanted to use these elements to create a sculpture that represents “good fortune” of Chinese culture as well as allowing visitor to gain the experience of “walking on water. The two sculptural objects are my interpretation of Traditional Chinese Rock formation. One is with concave opening puncturing its main form while the other consist of protruding ellipsoid objects that mimics the irregularity of rocks. Behind these concave and convex forms are made of LED panels that can project abstract digital images of water rays flowing downwards. On the protruding rock structure the LED flow is only limited to the hole as to represent water coming from them. The other rock structure will have the LED rays flowing around them as to represent water being blocked by the ellipse forms. It is a hidden representation of the philosophy of yin and yang (陰陽). The floor area will be constructed of tempered glass LED projection grid with a ripple like induction pattern. There will be 2 ripple patterns as there are 2 rock sculptures and each ripple represents the digital water flow from associated rock hitting the LED “pond”. Visitors can walk over the LED floor and experience the rippling effect below their feet while observing the flowing water of the 2 rocks. The visitor will be immersed in a liquid like experience without ever getting “wet” as with real water. The sculpture will be silent when no one is stepping on the LED floor grid but once someone intrudes the threshold, an infra-red senor will activate the sound of water to accentuate the liquid immersion experience.
The R.A.W (Rock And Water) sculpture encapsulated many of our culture and superstition into a highly modern interpretation and it is a sculpture that will draw visitors into the hotel lobby as it is a device to be “experienced