"The Dancing Stone Forest" is one of the four installations designed by WAG Architects for the 2023 Longjiang Wetland Art Festival in Hulan District, Harbin. We hope that the art installation erected in the wetlands will not only provide entertainment, but also evoke a profound understanding of the beauty of nature, encouraging people to experience the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature through interactive means.
The inspiration for this project comes from one of the most common elements in nature - stones. Stones have also been the origin of human architectural development. Thousands of years later, we can still see numerous magnificent stone-based relics. These are the ingenious treasures of prehistoric humans' transformation of the natural environment. One of the most iconic examples is the famous prehistoric monument Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain in England. In the vast wetlands of Hulan, it's as if we can witness the passage of time, and these prehistoric grand relics are about to embrace new life in a manner more suited to this era.
"The Dancing Stone Forest" covers an area of 55 square meters. Thirty massive wobble columns are arranged in a double helix pattern to form a stone circle, inviting people to enter and explore within. People can enter from two separate entries and converge at the center. Unlike the hardness of actual stones, this soft stone forest becomes a sanctuary for children's hide-and-seek games. As people move through it, the stone forest will gracefully dance in response to the forces of collision and pushing.