-
Architects: Daxing Jizi Design
- Area: 300 m²
- Year: 2023
-
Photographs:Chao Zhang, UCCA
-
Manufacturers: Hemen Technology, Jinchao, Jumping Bear Amusement Equipment
-
Lead Architects: Zhenwei ZENG
Text description provided by the architects. The second edition of the “RanRan” Art Season in 2023 is jointly presented by XINTIANDI and UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, focusing on the Shanghai Greater Xintiandi area. In the public art invitational sector at Taipingqiao Park, Daxing Jizi Design conducted a series of spatial narrative creations tailored to the venue, including a main installation, a series of scattered plug-ins in the park, and collaborative events. Starting from the relationship between art, city, and people, the installations narrated a story of art “generating power” for the city.
Integrating the lively atmosphere of “City Jump” into this area, the installations activate public space, bringing a scene experience that combines artistic sensations with playful colors. It not only encourages physical engagement but also introduces a fresh exploration of perception, play, and discovery within the city. With the large interactive lights art installation “JUMP Urban Generator” as the engine, a series of small plug-in “JUMP Electric Elves” are scattered along the park’s pathways, while more “Electric Elves” co-created with the visitors in workshops are presenting in the core area of XINTIANDI. The spatial rhythm of the work is well-balanced, using a gamified strategy to encourage the audience’s physical exploration and participation.
Takeoff! Activate the City’s Energy Generator Together. Jumping is an innate instinct for humans, and the act of “jumping” is a reaction produced by the body’s perception of the external environment, often triggered by one’s joy and vitality. However, in today’s urban daily life, this natural movement is often overlooked and forgotten. We view jumping as an important way for the body to actively perceive urban spaces. When individuals experience a special connection with the environment, they can deeply sense their existence in that moment and bring vibrant energy into the space at the same time. We have adopted a direct approach to stimulate jumping actions by incorporating a playful element – the trampoline, and designed a set of “power-generating devices”. This interactive engagement activates the energy mechanism, enabling visitors to leap beyond the confines of everyday life scenes, infusing the city with a lively vitality.
JUMP Urban Generator. Bringing a Leap of Innovation to the City. Taipingqiao Park is located on the east side of XINTIANDI Style I, adjacent to the Memorial Hall of the First National Congress of the CPC, and is a precious piece of greenery amid the bustling city. In this intricately planned urban setting, we introduce a dynamic “variable.” Positioned on the expansive lawn at the easternmost edge of the park stands the main installation, “JUMP Urban Generator.” It boasts a towering structure reaching 9.7 meters in height and 7 meters in diameter. Surrounding this centerpiece are three interactive trampoline installations. This serves as a temporary landmark, infused with a playful spirit – a succinct yet ever-changing spatial symbol, akin to an adventurous destination that beckons people to explore.
The design inspiration for the main installation is derived from the Cockcroft-Walton generator, a device from the 1930s that provided high DC voltage for particle accelerators. We aim to convey a sense of upward force through the design while ensuring ample interactivity. The central structure of the light tower is constructed with silver stainless steel tubes, forming a double-layer nested heptagonal structure after multiple rounds of careful deliberation. With an approximate distance of 30 centimeters between the inner and outer layers, it achieves a stable tension. The overall structure is simple yet exquisite, allowing spectators to look up at the light tower from within with unobstructed views of the sky.
Four layers of ring-shaped frosted film structures stack up around the central column, forming a visually elastic “capacitor.” Drawing inspiration from the electromagnetic spectrum, we infuse vibrant and dynamic colors, including orange, yellow, purple, and green, into the structure. Eighty-four outdoor waterproof LED tubes are placed on steel frames parallel to the film rings, with each ring corresponding to three layers of LED tubes, creating a full-spectrum programmable lighting matrix. As the audience steps onto the trampolines around the light tower, the sensing switches are immediately triggered.
The three trampoline installations, each 3 meters wide and 0.6 meters high, feature an outer layer made of the same translucent film material as the main light tower. The elastic nets in the center are equipped with mirror-reflective photoelectric devices that can sense the bouncing on the trampolines, conveying various levels of jumping intensity. These movements are then transformed directly into visual displays through the light matrix of the tower. This dynamic interaction results in a diverse display of expressions, creating a vibrant, colorful, and surreal gaming space.
JUMP Electric Elves. Energizing Urban Space with Dynamic Plug-ins. Twelve small energy installations derived from the main structure are set along the pathway that traverses Taipingqiao Park, connecting the indoor space of XINTIANDI with the lawn and greenery where the main installation is located. These plug-in installations act as clues, systematically activating this approximately 1-kilometer-long pathway and transforming it into a temporary adventure route. We’ve named these small installations “JUMP Electric Elves,” each of them varying in size and form, resembling energy-aggregating plugins bursting from the light tower. They infuse more energy and creativity into various corners of this art season.
Reflection. The Playful Spirit and Spatial Narratives in the City. For us, the “JUMP Urban Generator” series is an important experiment and breakthrough. The question we continuously ponder is: how can public art, while providing aesthetic experiences and conventional spatial encounters, break free from conventional frameworks and imbue space with a fresh and authentic vitality in the familiar scenes of everyday life? The playful spirit of the installation offers an extraordinary experience, breaking the boundaries of urban living, surpassing age limits, and giving people the opportunity to perceive space through physical activities, empowering the city with their energy.
The audience is no longer a passive observer but an active participant, becoming the agent of energy through body engagement. Because of human involvement, the creation achieves completeness, and through tangible physical and mental experiences, the city is rediscovered at a human scale. On the level of spatial activation, we reexamine everyday urban spaces through a series of creations, reaching every corner of the area. Using the scale of distance as a clue, we present an interactive narrative experience for the audience, attempting to promote the connection and flow between commercial spaces and parks, activating urban spaces with a point-to-surface approach. “Jump” is a philosophy about perception, using it as a starting point, the installations break into the intricate and complex urban life.
Through interaction and participation of people, the work is presented in its entirety, becoming an unconventional connector that brings the strategy of activating space back to the perception of individuals physically engaging with urban space. Individual experiences and the shared emotions of the community converge in this specific space. At “JUMP UrbanGenerator,” we look forward to bringing more diverse and rich possibilities to urban life.
