SHADOW CAVE

CAMLab Trailer | SHADOW CAVE: An Optical Theatre EP2 from Harvard FAS CAMLab on Vimeo.

Role Artist
-
Academic Work
Digital 3D Animation | Immersive Exhibition
2021.07

Shadow Cave is the first project I made in Harvard CAMLab. This addresses a foundational myth of Buddhist art originating around the year 400 CE in the region of Nagarahāra (in present-day Afghanistan), part of the kingdom of Gandhāra. There the Buddha is said to have leaped into the wall of a cliffside grotto, imprinting on it a “shadow image” that was radiantly reflective like a mirror when seen from afar but disappeared into the rocky surface upon approach. And this project tried to use digital art to transform physical space into “a mental theater”.

I was mainly responsible for the concept design and the production of two of the scenes in this project. The project has not yet been officially landed, and images on the right are concept frames I have designed. In the design process, I tried to visualize the concept “Buddha Cave is Heart Cave”. In this cave, the Buddha is between real and virtual.