A circle of mirroring steel branches composes a luminous forest in Hanoi.

2 hours ago7 min read

In the heart of Hanoi's bustling public realm, an extraordinary installation transforms the urban landscape into a living, breathing canvas of light and reflection. A circle of mirror-polished steel branches, meticulously arranged by artist Tia Thuy Nguyen, composes what can only be described as a luminous forest, a synthetic grove where architecture and nature perform a delicate dance.The true magic of this piece unfolds not in its static form but in its dynamic interaction with the environment; as sunlight arcs across the Vietnamese sky and weather shifts from the crisp clarity of a dry morning to the atmospheric haze of an impending monsoon, the reflections across the steel surfaces undergo a continuous, mesmerizing metamorphosis. Each branch acts as a pixel in a grand, kinetic display, capturing the ephemeral qualities of the day—the sharp, golden glare of noon, the soft, diffused glow of an overcast afternoon, the way raindrops bead and distort the city's image, fragmenting the surrounding architecture of French colonial facades and modern developments into a thousand shimmering shards.This is public art that refuses to be a passive monument; it is an active participant in the daily life of the city, a UX designer's dream where the user is the pedestrian, the cyclist, the child chasing the glint of light on the pavement. The work echoes the principles of interactive digital art, much like a sophisticated Figma plugin that responds to user input in real-time, but here, the inputs are natural and unpredictable.It invites a conversation about permanence and transience, grounding a futuristic, almost cybernetic aesthetic in the very organic, uncontrollable rhythms of the world. The installation doesn't just occupy space; it redefines it, creating a focal point for communal gathering and personal reflection, a place where the hard edges of urban steel soften into the fluid poetry of captured light, proving that the most powerful tools for creative expression sometimes require no electricity, only the ever-changing sky.

#featured

#public art

#installation

#mirror steel

#Hanoi

#Tia Thuy Nguyen

#luminous forest

#designboom

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