An Artificial Sun in the Night
The Sun That Looks Back is a light-and-mirror installation that reimagines the myth of Icarus as a metaphor
for our obsession with technology and gradual loss of self. Placed in the middle of a nighttime cityscape, the
work appears as a massive glowing red sphere like an artificial sun. Its warm light draws people in, echoing
humanity’s tireless pursuit of progress and technological utopias.
The Black Hole of Desire
This illusion is broken by a narrow slit on the sphere’s surface. When viewers peer through this eye-like
opening, the radiant core they expect is nowhere to be found. Instead, they see a “black hole” made of
countless mirrors. Inside this cavity, there is no transcendent light; they see their own reflection, multiplied
and refracted endlessly until it surrounds them completely.
Technological Progress as Self-Projection
This sharp contrast between the sphere’s glowing exterior and mirrored interior flips the usual perspective. It
is no longer just Icarus staring at the sun; the sun seems to stare back. The installation suggests that the
dazzling, seamless surface of technological progress is often a projection of human ambition and desire for
control. We believe we are moving toward external brilliance, only to find ourselves walking into a visual trap
that endlessly reproduces our own desires.
The Icarian Fall
Through this work, we want to convey that the “fall” is not only the physical crash in the myth but also a
psychological descent. The real fall happens the moment we realize the light we chase has no true center;
instead, we find a void of desire. This sun does not burn us from above. It draws us inward, pulling us down
into an endless abyss made of nothing but our own reflections.
