Solution: Ideas & Concept

Project Title: Moon Garden- Embrace Human Darkness

Theme: Efflorescence

Rationale

As we grow from different stages of life, we might come across dark times which lead us to feel stuck, lost of hope, having no direction, and unable to bear going through the motions. Everything seems meaningless, and we may feel that there is no place where we belong. From a dark time, we might have grown and transformed. Alternatively, we could have shut down and withdrawn from life. This installation encourages people to embrace the darkness in our inner souls and blossom in dark times. 

Idea & Concept

Most flowers bloom in the sunshine; however, some flowers open up and flourish in the dark. Through this installation, users get to embrace their human darkness as flowers that bloom at night represents their inner souls that strives and bloom through difficult times. By embracing is to love, heal and forgive. Users get to cherish the moment of blooming through 4 different senses which include the sense of touch, hear, sight, and smell in the moon garden.



Content Planning


  • Dark night that changes with different moon phases is used as a metaphor to represent our dark times where we feel lost and meaningless in different stages of life. The full moon presents us with time to look inward and recognize our inner beauty to move forward in life.


  • The Moonflower is a symbol of blossoming in dark times. Moonflower is a beautiful and enchanting night flower that requires darkness to grow and blossom. It is such a wonderful representation for the growth potential of our soul and personality when we are faced with challenging and difficult periods in our lives. 


  • Water lilies symbolize rebirth and peace. They also come in different colors such as red, orange, blue, pink and yellow.


  • Evening Primrose 【SOUR 酸】 symbolizes youth and renewal. The flower comes in white, yellow, or pink, and they smell like lemon.
  • Night Phlox 【SWEET 甜 】 symbolizes sweet dreams as it smells like candy and cake. The flowers bloom in shades of white, purple, and even maroon. 
  • Night Blooming Cereus 【BITTER 苦】reflects fears that hold us back from being our greatest selves.  Night-Blooming Cereus brings these fears into our awareness, so we can look at them and release them. The flower encourages us to take a big leap toward reaching our full potential and chasing after our dreams.
  • Night gladiolus flower【SPICY 辣】 symbolizes strength and integrity. Night gladiolus has a spicy fragrance that is known for attracting butterflies.


Core Experience

Moonflower Garden [LOVE] - Sense of Sight & Touch



Night Bloom Water Lilies Pond [HEAL] - Sense of Hearing




Scent Garden [FORGIVE] - Sense of Smell



Mood & Feel





Artist Impression



Floor Plan Measurement


Intended Media




Inspirational Benchmark

Pulse and Bloom



Pulse and Bloom is an interactive and social art installation that visualizes participants’ heartbeats and invites people to share and sync their human heartbeats in a rhythmic pattern. Pulse and Bloom is one of the world's largest biofeedback installations, allowing 40 individuals to concurrently visualize their heartbeats.

Pulse and Bloom is a collection of 20 lotuses ranging in height from 10 to 14 feet, each with a pulse sensor attached at the stem's base. When a participant places their hand upon the pulse sensor, the stem and the flower in the sky start to beat with their heart. Furthermore, when more than one person places their hand on the pulse sensor, the stem begins to pulse in time with both participants' heartbeats, allowing you to observe how different people's heart rates begin to beat in rhythm, similar to fireflies flashing in patterns.

Flower Power [Digital Water Lilies]


Miguel Chevalier includes varieties of flowers rich with symbolism and good auspices during the spring in China. The flowers appear randomly, come to full blossom and fade away. The garden renews itself time after time, constantly changing and flourishing into its summer glory. As visitors walk around the 600m² flower carpet, the garden senses and shifts around them.

Garden of Light



The Garden of Light is a pre-programmed light show. Users can trigger magical color and pattern reactions by using a touchpad within the installation. As they walk around the garden illuminated by thousands of lights, they could visualize four different 90-second light shows taking place with alternating music every 10 minutes.

Bibliography

Evans, L. (2021) Ultimate Guide to Primrose Flower Meaning. Petal Republic. Aug 17. Available at: LINK

Fabrika, L. (2017) miguel chevalier's 'flower power' blooms into a digital garden of light. Design Boom. Feb 28. Available at: LINK

FreshFTD (2016) Gladiolus Meaning and Symbolism. May 10. Available at: LINK

Lotuswei. (2012) NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS FLOWER ESSENCE. Aug 10. Available at: LINK

Marsession, S. (2022) Time of the Moonflower. Available at: LINK

MD, R.P. Dr. (2012) 3 Steps to Heal Any Kind of ‘Dark Night of the Soul’. Good News Network. Jul 8. Available at: LINK

Noonan, J. (n.d) These 11 Fascinating Garden Flowers Bloom Only at Night. Bob Vila. Available at: LINK

Suleman, S.S. (2015) Pulse & Bloom. Behance. Jan 9. Available at: LINK

Tovar, E. (2021) Water Lily Flower Meaning and Symbolism. Florgeous. May 25. Available at: LINK

Trafford, A.P. (2016) THE MOONFLOWER. White Lotus Magazine. Sep 23. Available at: LINK

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