Interactive Light Installation: Before Fish Become Birds

Before Fish Become Birds is an interactive monumental light installation inspired by the opening passage of Free and Easy Wandering in Zhuangzi, where Kun, an immense fish, transforms into Peng, a bird whose wings stretch across the sky. Rather than depicting the completed transformation, the work holds the uncertain moment before it.

Conceived for a hotel courtyard in Shanghai, the installation connects transformation with arrival. Each guest check-in triggers a cycle of light: illumination begins at the waterline, travels upward through the two fish, expands into their translucent fins, and gradually returns to a slow ambient glow.

The work responds to Shanghai as a city shaped by movement, exchange, and reinvention. Rising from a shallow reflecting pool, the fish are constructed from layered frosted acrylic, thermoformed fins, laser cut floral elements, and integrated LED illumination. Linear fountains lift water along both sides, while reflections suspend the fish between swimming and flight.

The fish have not yet become birds, but perhaps they have already begun to fly.