The digital ink generative video art installation “Icy Fire,” created by Professor Lampo Leong and doctoral student Yanxiu Zhao from the Centre for Arts and Design of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Macau, won the Gold Medal Award at the “Glow Shenzhen” Light Art Festival.
The 2024 “Glow Shenzhen” Light Art Festival is organized by the Shenzhen Urban Management and Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau in cooperation with the governments of Futian, Luohu, Yantian, Nanshan, Baoan, Longhua, Pingshan, and Guangming Districts, and jointly hosted by the Shum Yip Group, Shenzhen City Appearance Landscape Affairs Center, and the respective urban management and comprehensive law enforcement bureaus of the districts, Shum Yip Commercial Management Co., Ltd., with support from the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports, and Bazaar Art magazine. The festival was executed by Asia Data Group / Huacai Shengshi (Shenzhen) Culture and Technology Co., Ltd., with Hao Dong, Editor-in-Chief of Bazaar Art, serving as the chief curator. The theme for this year’s art festival is “Infinite Illumination,” using a “1+n” model, with 1 main event location (UpperHills and nearby parks) + 29 exhibition locations, featuring a total of 209 light arts from many countries and regions, and hosting 46 themed art activities.
Lampo Leong and Yanxiu Zhao’s “Icy Fire” is a digital ink generative video art installation measuring 7.5 meters by 4 meters by 4.8 meters. It includes a high-definition LED panel and multiple mirrored walls, ceiling and floor, located in the main exhibition venue, UpperHills 3L pedestrian street, opposite the south gate of the Mandarin Oriental Shenzhen. “Icy Fire” attracted a large number of viewers to visit and experience the immersive installation, gaining widespread attention and acclaim on media platforms such as Xiaohongshu. Many viewers praised work for its stunning artistic effects.
“Icy Fire” is unique in its creativity, completed using a digital ink generative software. It showcases the process of glacier melting through the splashing of ink and the artistic language of geometric abstraction, with a gradient of colors shifting from cold to warm. The installation combines sound, light, and immersive exhibition settings to allow the audience to experience and appreciate the innovation and development of ink art in the digital and AI era.
Lampo Leong is a Distinguished Professor, doctoral supervisor, and Director of the Centre for Arts and Design at the University of Macau. He is also a Tenured Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the US and a Visiting Professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. His works have been selected for over 450 national or international juried or curated art exhibitions and have won more than 110 awards, including the Red Dot Award: Best of the Best, Gold Award in the American Good Design, Gold Award in the “Creative Quarterly” International Art Competition in New York, and the China National Arts Fund. His works are housed in over ten museum collections, including the Cantor Center for the Arts at Stanford University, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Macao Museum of Art, and have been featured on the covers of publications such as “New Art International” in New York, “Creative Genius: 100 Contemporary Artists” in London, and “Art Frontier” in the United States.
The “Infinite Illumination: Glow Shenzhen” Light Art Festival will be open until February 16, 2025, making it a popular tourist destination during the Spring Festival holiday.