Cherry Blossom
Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, New York

Type

  • Interactive Installation

Situated in the center of the Grand Staircase of the museum, Cherry Blossom is an intervention in an existing path, thereby turning everyone who is walking up or down the stairs into a performer. A two-story high semi-cylinder in the middle of the staircase serves as a projection screen. Through surveillance cameras the system is monitoring the traffic on the staircase. When someone walks on the stairs, each step triggers the projection of a ring of swirling cherry blossoms, relative to that step, accompanied by a sound effect.

The more people there are on the staircase, the more blossoms get triggered, resulting in an opulent display of shades of pink illuminating the space. Over time the blossoms disintegrate and the petals fall apart and fade away. When no one is on the staircase, the projection turns into falling snow, suggesting that it is people’s movement that is a source of warmth and beauty.

  • Concept, Design and Production: Masamichi Udagawa, Sigi Moeslinger
  • Tower Fabrication: Kazuaki Sugi
  • Sound and Animation Behavior Programming: James Tu
  • Computer Modelling: Bruce Pringle
  • Sound: Jeff Feddersen
  • Production Assistant: Dan Seiple