Bronze Lighting Projects and Light Art Design · 2025
Infinite Wave Lighting Installation
- A' Design Award 2025 Bronze Winner in Lighting Projects and Light Art Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: Yuejin Art Museum & Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tainan City Government
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 18,456
- Verification code 608DA88D38 · Verify this award
About Infinite Wave Lighting Installation
Infinite Wave is a design that materializes the flows of water and the variation of time in the Yuejin Port of Tainan, Taiwan. The installation takes on varied appearances as day transitions into night, where artificial and natural light cross paths, guiding viewers to perceive changes in both space and time. As moonlight slowly emerges, crimson rays reminiscent of blood permeate the artwork, allowing the contours to come into clarity. By the dead of night, as artificial light spreads across the installation, multidimensional light waves intertwine once again in space.
Chao Lin Cheng's Lighting Installation engages a distinguished lineage of contemporary environmental art and light-based interventions that transform public landscapes into sites of contemplative experience and aesthetic wonder, situating the practice within broader movements exploring technology's poetic potential, ephemeral marking of natural cycles, and architecture's capacity to frame rather than dominate its surroundings. The compositional achievement here demonstrates sophisticated understanding of dynamic geometry, employing a parabolic sweep that creates both visual drama and spatial shelter, the curved metal framework establishing rhythmic repetition through parallel structural ribs that guide the eye along a fluid trajectory while integrated linear lighting traces this geometry with warm luminous emphasis, generating striking chromatic contrast against the cool atmospheric blue of twilight's arrival. Technical facility manifests in the precise calibration of structural elements and lighting integration, the installation achieving elegant balance between engineering rigor and organic fluidity, suggesting wave motion, protective canopy, and architectural threshold simultaneously, while the lighting system's warm amber and coral tones provide exactly the chromatic temperature needed to activate the composition against the deepening cerulean envelope of dusk, neither overwhelming the atmospheric subtlety nor disappearing into darkness but rather establishing a luminous dialogue between human intervention and natural phenomenon. The spatial positioning demonstrates environmental sensitivity, the installation scaled to engage meaningfully with the landscape while respecting the expansive sky vault and flanking vegetation, creating a sense of place-making that invites rather than commands attention, with the inclusion of a human figure providing essential scale reference that transforms abstract sculptural form into inhabitable experiential architecture. Thematically, the work appears to explore the intersection of temporality and permanence, capturing the ephemeral blue hour when day transitions to night, a liminal moment that has held symbolic significance across cultures as a threshold time, while the installation's structural permanence contrasts with lighting's transience, suggesting meditation on duration, cyclical return, and the marking of passage, perhaps inviting consideration of how human creative interventions can honor rather than disrupt natural rhythms, how technology might serve contemplation rather than domination, and how public spaces can be transformed into sites of shared aesthetic experience that encourage viewers to pause, observe, and reflect upon their relationship to environment, light, time, and the constructed gestures that frame our engagement with landscape. The installation's wave-like geometry evokes associations with flow, energy, natural forces made visible, and the rhythmic patterns that structure both natural phenomena and human perception, while the protective canopy form suggests shelter, gathering, threshold crossing, and the archetypal human gesture of creating space within space, defining sanctuary or ceremonial ground through structural delineation. How might this luminous architectural gesture alter your perception of familiar landscape as you encounter it during different times of day and changing atmospheric conditions, and what qualities of attention does the installation's combination of structural permanence and lighting ephemerality invite you to bring to the experience of place, time, and the constructed environments that shape our daily passage through the world?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Infinite Wave takes on different appearances as day transitions into night, where artificial and natural light interact, guiding viewers to perceive the changes in space and time. As moonlight slowly emerges, crimson rays reminiscent of blood gradually permeate the entire installation, sharpening its contours from blur to clarity. By the dead of night, as artificial light spreads across the installation, multidimensional light waves intertwine once again in space.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Width 4,000mm x Depth 4,200mm x Height 2,500mm
- Tags
- Pavilion, Sculpture, Optical Fibers, Interactive Art, Lighting Installation, Art Installation
- Production Technology
- This artwork is produced through computational design tools, laser cutting machines, and optical fibers materials.
- Design Challenge
- In this project, artist Cheng Chao Lin uses the optical fibers as the main structure. For the first time, the light becomes attachable in the pavilion, creating the expression of lighting as well as connecting the whole structure. Based on the geometric research, three-dimensional laser cutting technology is used to determine the orientation of each metal unit, ensuring precise angles and locations before the units are accurately assembled.
- Project Duration
- The artwork was exhibited from January 2024 to March 2024 in Tainan, Taiwan.
- Operation Flow
- In the depths of the night, red beams of light traverse the void, resembling a guiding light slowly revealing the transformation of the earth. As wanders immerse themselves in this infinite geometric illusion, multidimensional light waves intertwine in space, guiding them in countless directions while simultaneously causing them to gradually lose their way. Through continuous exploration, consciousness will eventually return from blur to clarity.
- Research
- The Infinite Wave is a lighting installation based on the Mobius strip folding structure. It focuses on visual changes in topology and explores the interactions between lines, surfaces, and volumes. The installation utilizes lines to maximize visual impact, and uses computational tools to calculate and assemble the structure. In addition, the design also seeks to further integrate the manufacturing technology in Taiwan by building a connection between art and local industry.
- Inspiration
- The shape of Infinite Wave concretes the flows of water and the variation of time in the Yuejin Port of Tainan, Taiwan. The lighting installation is crafted from interwoven optical fibers, transforming light from a physical phenomenon into a tangible structure. In the artwork, light serves simultaneously as a medium for recording time and as building material. Each optical fiber, varying in length, delineates the diffusion range of light and captures its trajectory through inherent vectors.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer FIXER Photographic Studio, 2024
Image #2: Photographer FIXER Photographic Studio, 2024
Image #3: Photographer FIXER Photographic Studio, 2024
Image #4: Photographer FIXER Photographic Studio, 2024
Image #5: Photographer FIXER Photographic Studio, 2024
Video Credits: Chao Lin Cheng
Colors of Infinite Wave Lighting Installation
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We specialize in commissioned light art installations for cultural institutions, festivals, and public spaces. Our computational design process and mastery of optical fiber systems create immersive experiences that transform how people perceive space and time.
G0E23 ShopGrand Interview about Infinite Wave Lighting Installation
The geometry of Infinite Wave was inspired by the Möbius strip, which I used as the foundation for creating a continuous and stable form. The installation is built from six structural surfaces that interlock to form this geometry. As the design evolved from surface modeling to a line-based framework, I realized that organizing all the linear elements into two layers could create a meaningful hierarchy. The primary layer, made of metal, provides the structural framework, while the secondary layer, composed of optical fibers, carries the light. Through this approach, light becomes more than a decorative feature—it acts as an essential structural element that defines both the form and the atmosphere of the installation.
With a background in both landscape and architecture, I’ve always been interested in how material textures and physical phenomena interact with their surrounding environment. During the material testing phase, I found that optical fibers are susceptible to ambient light, making them less suitable for conventional outdoor lighting applications. However, this sensitivity also revealed a fascinating relationship with the natural conditions of Yuejin Port. The variations in sunlight throughout the day and the shifting water levels over time create a dialogue with the optical fibers. In this way, the changing light and the tidal movements of the port merge into a single temporal experience, allowing the material and the environment to respond to one another.
The geometry of Infinite Wave was developed and simulated using digital tools, such as Grasshopper. The primary structure was fabricated using 5-axis CNC machining, while the secondary structure—the optical fibers—was woven through the framework like threads. Originally soft, the fibers gradually formed a solid yet translucent surface during the reinforcement process. This project combines highly digital fabrication with traditional craftsmanship. By using hollow metal tubes, we were able to neatly house all electrical components, thereby simplifying the overall form. The structural metal framework also accommodated the minor variances inherent in hand assembly. These subtle differences, rather than being seen as flaws, became an expressive part of the installation itself.
I chose CNC laser cutting to achieve the high level of precision required for the project. This approach allowed us to fabricate the irregularly shaped tubes with complete digital customization, eliminating the need for traditional molds or auxiliary supports and significantly reducing material waste. At the same time, this precision-driven method enabled us to move beyond conventional orthogonal fabrication, giving the installation a sense of floating space and enhancing the overall spatial experience.
The interaction between light and the viewer happens in two ways: through the passage of time and through differences in viewing angles. As visitors move past the installation at different times of day, they encounter changing expressions, with time acting as a natural trigger that shifts perception from blur to clarity, rather than relying on digital sensors. Additionally, the installation is composed of multiple optical fibers. From a distance, it appears as a glowing, floating volume with blurred boundaries, but as visitors approach, they begin to perceive the distinct geometric patterns embedded within. In this way, light becomes a living medium that actively shapes the spatial experience.
The Möbius strip not only symbolizes infinite cycles and the dissolution of boundaries, but it also provides a visual structure that resonates with the theme of this installation: the drifting of the cosmos. Its ring-like spatial form defines both interior and exterior spaces, allowing visitors to freely move between them and experience the undulating flow within the installation. This sense of movement also resonates with the natural tidal fluctuations of Yuejin Port, establishing a subtle dialogue between the artwork and its surroundings.
Taiwan has a strong and novel manufacturing industry, but it is rarely applied in the field of art. For this project, we utilized advanced industrial techniques for cutting irregular tubes, which significantly reduced the need for temporary molds that were traditionally required to fabricate complex forms. This high-precision approach not only improved material efficiency but also allowed traditional manufacturing practices to engage with contemporary art, opening new possibilities at the intersection of art and industry.
The red lighting serves as a form of guidance. As light travels through the optical fibers, it naturally changes over distance, and the intensity is influenced by daylight, creating a gradual, directional effect rather than a single, linear source. This allows visitors, when observing the installation up close, to experience the red light as a gradient with a sense of movement and orientation. Through these multidimensional red-light sources, the installation also invites viewers to explore the hidden geometric intricacies within the form.
Many traditional sculptures are made from durable materials to ensure structural stability. Since this installation was temporary, it provided me with the opportunity to experiment with softer materials and light as the primary medium of sculpture. This temporary format also allowed the technologically driven public art to be more interactive, inviting viewers to engage with the work in ways that are not typically possible with permanent, solid sculptures.
First, using a modular design approach allows you to test and verify the work before the full installation is completed. Second, explore new ways of using materials rather than being limited by conventional approaches. Third, identify fabrication methods that suit contemporary practice, such as 5-axis CNC machining or robotic fabrication. Last but not least, these manufacturing approaches not only expand design possibilities but also provide practical ways to manage budgets and production challenges while maintaining artistic integrity.