Cao Yuxi's Immersive Installation Simulates Black Hole at Today Art Museum

Chinese artist and programmer Cao Yuxi has created Oriens, an immersive audiovisual installation currently on view at the Today Art Museum in Beijing. Inspired by natural phenomena such as solar eclipses and black holes, the work envelops viewers in a storm of light and sound, using giant projections that fill the entire room. The artist comments that soon we will be able to see a photograph of a real black hole, and that the recent total solar eclipse in the United States stimulates his imagination. Oriens, meaning 'oriental pearl,' attempts to unite past, present, and future by evoking ancient ritual sites like Stonehenge and reimagining them in a modern, even sci-fi context. The sphere shape carries symbolism that travels through time and space without boundaries.