Across the Mountains

by Danqing Shi, Clement Valla, Xiaojin Xi and Lin Zhang

June 2008, the committee of Beijing Olympic 2008 commissioned CAFA (Central Academy of Fine Art) to design an interactive art project which will placed in the heart of Water Cube (The National Aquatics Center). The honor to carry this project out was assigned to Danqing Shi, Clement Valla, Xiaojin Xi and Lin Zhang. The idea is to make a living and dynamic “water square” in the static architecture of “Water Cube”. A digital pond is generated by computer program in real time and projected on the ground of the center hall in “Water Cube”. The pond “reflects” the blue sky and floating cloud, and a flock of red fish is swimming in it. As soon as people step on it, their foot will trigger the sensor system and generate ripples and waves under people’s foot. What is even more interesting is that the flock of fish will divided into several small groups following people’s walking paths on the pond.