The Infinity Room: French concept artist blends East and West in a stunning installation in Shanghai

French concept artist and theorist Serge Salat has created "Beyond Infinity", a multi-sensory installation that uses mirrors, light, music, and fractal art in a blend of Eastern references (the I Ching and the Suzhou gardens) and Western perspective.

Here's a description in Designboom.com:

Internally, the space is designed around the trigram of the yi king, utilizing spatial techniques traditional of Suzhou gardens as a means of framing the visitor experience as a 'mystical journey' through abstracted Chinese courtyards. Painted wooden grids and steps lend additional structure, while the fractal objects are composed of wooden frames covered with punched aluminum anodized panels.

Inside the installation, as music plays, the lighting pulses and shifts as visitors move through a series of room-like spaces whose dimensions are almost indiscernible as a result of the infinite reflections cast by the mirrors. On a 9-channel system, the lighting varies from ultraviolet blue to white, traversing each minute a complete cycle that recreates the effects of dawn through sunset and night. Visitors pass first through a blue lattice grid with a darkened section monikered the 'vertical infinite fault' that seems to eliminate the space where they walk.

This was exhibited in Shanghai in a few weeks ago. According to Salat, "entering the work is also entering the world of the Dream of the Red Mansion transposed to the 21st century", referencing the classical Chinese novel. That's definitely one reference I would never have picked up on.

From Designboom

Source article with more photos:

• serge salat: beyond infinity immersive installation (Designboom.com)