Mood Swings at Beijing”s Water Cube
by Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore
Wall Street Journal
June 25, 2013
Beijing”s Water Cube is perhaps best known as the place where Michael Phelps won eight gold medals. This week, it became the site for something altogether different: a real-time “painting” of China”s mood, as revealed by Sina Weibo emoticons.
“Nature and Man in Rhapsody of Light at the Water Cube,” a collaboration between the artist Jennifer Wen Ma and lighting designer Zheng Jianwei, opened last Sunday. Using the former Olympics venue”s distinctive exterior, it broadcasts the sentiments of the Chinese social-media service”s millions of users through an interactive lighting display that runs from dusk to 10 p.m. daily.
“I have conceived this as a piece that can breathe,” says Ms. Ma, who turns 40 this week, “as an organic being that changes as nature and society around it changes. I want people to feel like they have some authorship because their emotions are being registered.” Continue reading “Chinese Artists Create Social Mood Art in Beijing”