DRIFTING
DRIFTING is a three-screen installation by Qiang Hei that bridges real and virtual worlds. Real-time wind data from his hometown in Shanxi, China, guides his digital avatar across a digital Earth. The work explores modernization, memory, and belonging, inviting audiences to reflect on distant connections shaped by invisible forces.
The installation consists of three 27-inch monitors, each presenting a different part of the work:
1: Digital Avatar in the Virtual Earth – A digital avatar of the artist wanders across a Cesium-based globe, its movement guided by real-time data from a wind direction sensor installed in the artist’s hometown.
2: Documentary of the Village – A video depicts a rural landscape transformed by wind turbines. Despite technological advancement, the village has grown increasingly deserted, leaving only traces of migration and change.
3: Live Wind Sensor Feed – A real-time monitoring screen shows the wind direction sensor installed in the village, along with the turbines scattered across the mountains.
PROCESS
EXHIBITION
DRIFTING at V&A Museum, London, 2025
19-21 September 2025
V&A Learning Centre
South Kensington Cromwell Road
London, SW7 2RL
https://www.vam.ac.uk/