DRIFTING
2025
Real-time networked installation
Remote wind sensor, real-time environmental data, digital simulation, documentary video
Documentary: 3 min 55 sec
Installation: variable duration
Overview
DRIFTING is a three-screen networked installation in which real-time wind direction data from a sensor installed in Quan’ergou Village, Shanxi, guides a digital avatar drifting across a virtual Earth.
The project considers how a distant place can remain perceptible through environmental sensing and data transmission, connecting changes in the village landscape with continuous movement in digital space.
Local Context
Quan’ergou Village, the artist’s ancestral village in Shanxi, has undergone significant changes alongside the development of surrounding wind-energy infrastructure. As residents have gradually moved away, only a small number of households remain, while wind turbines now occupy the surrounding mountains.
Wind Sensor System
A wind direction sensor installed in Quan’ergou Village continuously records local wind conditions and transmits the data through the network. Situated within the landscape, the sensor maintains a continuous connection between the village and the digital environment.
Wind direction sensor / ESP32 / Wi-Fi connection / solar-powered system / 24/7 operation
Virtual Earth
The avatar moves continuously across a Cesium-based virtual Earth. Its orientation is determined by incoming wind data rather than by a predetermined destination: movement is not chosen, but surrendered to the wind.
Real-time wind direction recorded at the village is transmitted through the network to the digital environment, where it determines the orientation of the avatar.
Wind → Sensor → ESP32 → Network → Cloud → Unity / Cesium → Avatar
Documentary & Virtual Earth
Publication
Re-sensing Locality: DRIFTING as a Remote Signal
In The Computational Arts Critical Papers: f0rm1ess, Vol. 1, pp. 71–73
Goldsmiths, University of London, 2026
DOI: 10.25602/GOLD.00040726
Exhibition
DRIFTING at the V&A, London
V&A Digital Design Weekend
19–21 September 2025
Cromwell Road, South Kensington
London, SW7 2RL
https://www.vam.ac.uk/
DRIFTING at Goldsmiths, London
August 2025
Computational Arts Degree Show
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross
London, SE14 6NW