Press Release
Ting Kai Chen Is Honored with the Bronze A' Design Award for Beehive Fireworks Interactive Light in Lighting Projects and Light Art Design
Ting Kai Chen honored for lighting projects and light art design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 27, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Lighting Projects and Light Art Design category for Beehive Fireworks Interactive Light by Ting Kai Chen, designed for Tainan City Government. The award was conferred within the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
More About Beehive Fireworks Interactive Light
By day, the form evokes a Qing Dynasty merchant vessel surging through the waves, a frozen moment of splashing spray that crystallizes the harbor's former glory. As night falls, the artwork transforms into soaring Beehive Fireworks, using the interplay of light and shadow to whisper a serene prayer. The piece utilizes reflections on the water to create a symmetrical top down view of the fireworks, while the natural ripples of the water authentically recreate the erratic, crisscrossing dynamism of the pyrotechnics.
About Ting Kai Chen
Ting-Kai Chen is a Taiwan based tech artist and current MA candidate in Tech Art, blending a background in CS with interactive design. Formerly a key member of ULTRACOMBOS, he has honed his expertise in large scale digital curation and development. His work, showcased at Expo 2025 Osaka, DigiWave, and COMPUTEX, focuses on humanizing technology through immersive storytelling. Moving from commercial interactive projects to personal artistic practice, Chen explores the evolving relationship between humanity and the digital realm.
Award Record
This recognition makes Ting Kai Chen a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Lighting Projects and Light Art Design Award
The A' Lighting Project Design Award is an international lighting design competition recognizing outstanding lighting designs by lighting designers worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to lighting project designers, lighting architects, industrial design studios and lighting product manufacturers from all countries. Typical entries include light art, light installations, street lighting, light sculptures, light projections and landscape lighting. The awarded light art designs are published at https://desingers.org/design-category/lighting-projects
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://desingers.org/181133
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/181133
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!181133
- Laureate Profile: https://desingers.org/d/379845
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Beehive Fireworks Interactive Light
- Function
- Interactive Light
- Category
- Lighting Projects and Light Art Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Arts
- Colors
- Black, Dim Gray, Dark Slate Gray, Gray and Saddle Brown
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Tainan City Government
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Ting Kai Chen
- Country
- Taiwan (China)
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #181133
Credits
- Team
- GUAN YU LIN, YA CHU TSAO, TZU CHI LIU, YU CHUN CHEN, CHONG HUI CHOON and CHIA HSIN CHIANG
- Image Credits
- Photographer Ching Hung, Chu, Beehive Fireworks, 2026.; Photographer Ching Hung, Chu, Beehive Fireworks, 2026. Video Credits: Creator Wonderful Spring Studio, Beehive Fireworks, 2026.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The core of the installation utilizes real-time generative algorithms to produce lighting effects. Unlike traditional pre-rendered loops, the visuals are synthesized instantly to ensure a non-repetitive aesthetic, mimicking the unpredictable nature of live fireworks. By integrating audience spatial data, it creates a unique visual experience for every individual.
- Inspiration
- The Beehive Fireworks is a unique ritual in Tainan, Taiwan, symbolizing purification. The concept transforms its fervor into a serene ritual. By day, the form captures the speed of historical trade, mimicking the splash of a merchant vessel. At night, the work uses water reflections to create the symmetrical top-down view of actual Beehive Fireworks. Through natural ripples, the design authentically recreates their erratic, crisscrossing dynamism.
- Research
- As technology advances, many traditional cultures are gradually losing their connection with modern life. We aim to utilize digital methodologies to re-envision the "Beehive Fireworks" ritual, transforming its explosive energy into a serene experience. By integrating AI vision sensors and generative algorithms, the project translates human presence into intricate light dynamics, guiding viewers from passive observation to active participation to reawaken a profound sense of cultural identity.
- Challenge
- The core challenge was floating engineering in outdoor waters, requiring precise buoyancy and gravity calculations. Additionally, high humidity in outdoor environments posed strict requirements for the sealing, heat dissipation, and operational stability of the electronic systems. The design's key innovation lies in harnessing water reflections as an integral part of the visual composition, turning them into an essential extended interface.
- Realization and Technology
- The core of the installation utilizes a custom Unity-based engine to calculate lighting effects through generative algorithms in real-time. By leveraging an Oak-D AI camera to capture the spatial displacement of the audience, these movements are transformed into the computational soul of the algorithm. Through a DMX system, it provides independent control over 9,275 RGB LEDs, delivering exceptionally refined visual dynamics. Key Technologies: Oak-D AI camera, Unity engine, Generative algorithms, Real-time motion tracking.
- Operation and Interaction
- The installation senses the audience through shoreside cameras. By subtly translating their posture into the dynamic rhythm of beehive firecrackers, it recreates the temporal experience of the ritual. This mechanism turns presence into visual momentum, allowing engagement to define the ebb and flow of time and light.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project was officially exhibited at the 2026 Yuejin Lantern Festival in Tainan, Taiwan.
- Specifications
- Dimensions: 4,000 mm x 4,000 mm x 3,000 mm Materials: Black iron tubes LED pixel strips Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) for buoyancy Technical Properties: Oak ai camera system for real-time sensing. Computer-based controller for custom interaction logic.
- Keywords
- Beehive Fireworks, Water Reflections, Generative Light, Taiwan Culture, Interactive Installation
