The painting is called Holding Candle for a Night Excursion, which was created by Chinese artist Ma Lin (fl. 1195–1264) during the Song Dynasty. In the painting, Ma Lin depicted a nighttime excursion within the tranquil moonlit gardens of the Southern Song imperial palace. Through this painting, it delivers a sense of warmth and peacefulness of a spring night and shows the hope for chasing time and enjoying nature, even if the Song empire was crumbling and doomed.

I aimed to interpret the essence of the story and the peaceful experience delivered in the painting through a modern perspective and technology as well. Users are able to interact with the scene through the sensor input of a candle and thus enhance the sense of immersion and being a part of the story. 3D elements and scenes are utilized to enhance realism, animation is utilized to better engage the audience, and background music is also added to enhance the mood and create a melancholy atmosphere.

In my current project, an MVP version of the experience was built with one touchpoint of interaction, which is lighting up a candle to light up the 3D environment, allowing the user to actively experience rather than passively watch. The project can be expanded into a larger experience where the audience can interact with the scene through multiple touch points and reveal the whole story by interacting with different elements in the scene.