Faith as lived structure
Field observation showed that belief was embedded in festivals, class history, family life and public space—not simply held as a private opinion.
03 / INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION
Coexistence of Beliefs
2024Belief ↔ TechnologyIndependent
01 / PROJECT QUESTION
How can an installation reveal the relationship between religious belief, bodily devotion and self-inflicted suffering?
Coexistence of Beliefs began with my volunteer-teaching experience in Tibet, where faith appeared not as an isolated doctrine but as something carried through bodies, landscapes and everyday routines. I focused on pilgrimage and prostration: repeated acts in which devotion, social history, endurance and physical pain coexist. The project asks viewers to consider where spiritual discipline ends and internalised harm begins.
Independent project · 2024
Independent project. I conducted the field photography and cultural research, traced the relationship between religious symbols and the body, developed the installation concept and interaction, and used TouchDesigner and Arduino only as the technical layer that made the conceptual relationship perceptible.
02 / PROJECT LOGICThe argument
The argument
in four moves.
Situated observationField photographyReligious-symbol researchEmbodied mappingInteractive installationArduino / TouchDesigner
Devotion through the body
The seven-stage movement of prostration made belief visible as a repeated bodily practice. Its physical intensity revealed the closeness of devotion, endurance and harm.
Symbols mapped onto anatomy
I extracted the Ten Stages of Freedom and connected their represented realms to specific parts of the human body, turning an abstract religious system into an embodied visual language.
An apparatus for reflection
The final object combines the form of a Tibetan butter lamp, suspended symbolic blades and four levels of bowing. As the visitor lowers their body, the installation becomes increasingly active.
The installation is not a simulation of worship. It makes the viewer feel how belief can be carried, disciplined and internalised through the body.
Historical class structures and changing social identities formed the context for understanding how belief is lived across generations
Field photography documented ritual as a public, embodied and materially rich part of everyday religious life
The seven-stage pilgrimage cycle connects devotion to repetition, endurance and lasting physical strain
The Ten Stages of Freedom were decomposed into represented realms and mapped onto corresponding parts of the human body
Incense, the apple-like body, suspended symbolic blades and the butter-lamp structure translate the research into a responsive encounter
Body tracking, TouchDesigner and Arduino form a compact sensing-and-response layer behind the conceptual system
03 / OUTCOMEA proposition
A proposition
made tangible.
A responsive installation links four stages of bowing to increasing movement inside a spherical chamber. Religious symbols, the visitor’s posture and the physical apparatus form one argument about faith, suffering and coexistence.
FormatIndependent project · 2024
ContributionIndependent project. I conducted the field photography and cultural research, traced the relationship between religious symbols and the body, developed the installation concept and interaction, and used TouchDesigner and Arduino only as the technical layer that made the conceptual relationship perceptible.
MethodsSituated observation · Field photography · Religious-symbol research · Embodied mapping · Interactive installation · Arduino / TouchDesigner
StatusComplete case-study entry · further raw media can be added over time
FULL PROJECT ARCHIVESee the complete project,
PDFOpen complete project ↗See the complete project,
in its original sequence.
The webpage foregrounds the project’s argument. The PDF preserves the full research, visual development and documentation.