Ying Cao

Filtered Sun is a multi-sensory spatial installation that addresses fatigue, overload, and disconnection by guiding participants through a journey of emptiness, reconnection with nature, and emotional renewal.

At home, Filtered Sun invites individuals to enter a meditative, narrative-led lightscape shaped by filtered sunlight, glass, and shadow. Designed for those experiencing mental fatigue, sensory overload, or urban disconnection, the project gently dissolves the noise of modern life through the philosophy of emptiness, opening space for presence and quiet reflection.

Set within the context of London’s Epping Forest, the work explores how filtered light—moving through layers of glass and foliage—can reveal the emotional dimensions of emptiness. Rather than filling space, the installation invites subtraction, stillness, and inward breath. 

Visitors journey through a narrative structured around a domestic path: the living room evokes breath and awakening; the bathroom holds warmth and diffusion; and the bedroom becomes a site of absorption and sleep. As light shifts from formless to formed, then back to formless, the viewer is immersed in a continuous unfolding of presence—through shadow, reflection, and silence. 

The work is open to people of all ages who are navigating the pressures of modern life and searching for stillness. It offers a soft, poetic alternative to hyper-stimulated environments: a temporary space to reconnect with nature, time, and self—through the gentle rhythms of filtered light and the quiet fullness of emptiness. 

Collaborators:

Yuki Zhan, Glass Artist 

Danning Xu, Anthropological researcher 

Shu Wu, Glass Artist 

Leonardo Sun, Interior Designer 

Bethany Shepherd, Project Supervisor