“Chasing Stars in Shadow”: Magical Installation & Use of Technology

The great art of using media content and projections is to breathe magic and life into them. Using the latest technologies cleverly, but always focusing on the story. This is what the artist and programmer Joon Moon has achieved with the spatial experience "Chasing Stars in Shadow". A magical and fascinating installation embedded in an interactive, emotional narrative.

The project tells the story of "shadow children" who are locked in a room. As soon as visitors enter, their soft voices and calls can be heard here and there. But they must first be found with the help of a lamp - only then does an interactive narrative begin.

At the beginning, the shadows are flat and two-dimensional, but in the course of the events they change and become (apparently) three-dimensional. Fish jump out of the ground and swim in the air. These are optical illusions that captivate the viewers, giving life and magic to the shadow children and the whole experience. At the same time, an emotional interaction is created: the shadow creatures seek eye contact and take the light from the visitors' hands to draw new shadows and open up supposedly three-dimensional spaces.

The Augmented Shadow technique is a kind of augmented reality that Joon Moon has already applied to various projects. Actual shadows of objects are superimposed with virtual shadows. In this way, he creates fascinating illusions and gives the shadows their liveliness. The lamp serves as an interactive, narrative connecting piece. At the same time, it tracks the position of the visitors and aligns the shadows. The light moves the shadows of the entire space, which in this project forms an 8m x 8m x 4.2m immersive projection environment.