“The Vast Lament 2.0” is the second work of the environmental digital theatre trilogy The Floating Life Performance Series, created by director CHENG Yuyang （Summer）with a background in architecture. Rooted in Eastern philosophy, the piece transforms space itself into a legible, immersive narrative field.

 

This project was commissioned under the RAW section of the “China Shanghai International Arts Festival｜Rising Artists’ Works (RAW) Program” in 2025, hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and organized by the Shanghai Municipal Government. In the same year, it was selected for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In December 2023, director CHENG Yuyang and this work were featured in a full-page report in TATE ETC., the magazine of TATE Morden UK.

 

 

With Eastern aesthetics as its “heart,” and robotic arms, bio-sensing, real-time visuals and sound as its “voice,” the work conducts a cross-dimensional dialogue on life, space, and perception within a blended reality.

Drawing from his architectural training, the director reimagines the stage, turning space into an immersive narrative environment. Through installations, light, shadow, and geometric interplay, he constructs a “legible architectural poetics.”

Dancers wear biosensors, allowing their vital data to drive the real-time evolution of light, shadow, and soundscapes. This forms “fleshly mountain ranges,” weaving together fields of nature, city, and inner spirit into a flowing landscape.