The Water of Impermanence is an immersive experience that uses digital technology to create a peace and meditating environment inspired by the concept of Samsara and Impermanence in the Buddhism. 

In this space, a cushion placed at the center of concentric circles of Chinese characters invites visitors sit. As a visitor sits and touches the glass container in front of the cushion, the tangible installation starts pumping the water and causes a vortex in the container. At the same time, projected Chinese characters flows through the visitor and climbing on the wall, forming the article of the Great Compassion Mantra . 

Inspired by Zen art, The Water Of Impermanence is a tangible installation that use the water and projection to express the concept of impermanence and reincarnation of life in Buddhism. I hope the audience can feel calm and peace by observing the vortex formed by visitor's touching in the experience.

Made of glass, the container will show the vortex that formed by the water instilled along with the visitor's holding.

Projected content is the text from the Great Compassion View of Water which is the sutras about what Buddha understand about the world from the water.

Sitting at the center, holding the glass container with hands, the visitor will see the water flowing into the cup and form a vortex which means cosmos in Buddhism. 

Process

Prototype - The Vortex

As the most important element - vortex, I tried two ways to generate a vortex. The first is magnetic stir machine, but it works very unstable. It cannot cause vortex continuously. So finally I chose the second one - cut a hole on the bottom and let the water flow away to cause a vortex.

Prototype - Interaction

Since the water for Buddhist is sacred, they usually use two hands hold the water. In order to embedded this gesture, I used conductive tape as the switch. By touching it, the visitor completes the circuit.

Build

Water is the second element in Zen Godai, so I created a two-storied holder to hold the cup. The small desk is the ground floor, the water tank is the second floor. 

Since the mechanics are all functional, I start to change different materials. Use glass replaced the cup and make the water tank.