Yiru Yan (Cainy)

This project is actively seeking funding partners.

Elegies of Sanctity is an innovative VR project inspired by a personal journey to explore the beauty and decay of 12 UK ruined churches. The project offers a fresh perspective on historic religious architecture, focusing on the unique beauty of these derelict spaces intertwined with nature. By creating an immersive 6Dof VR experience, the audience is invited to explore each site and contemplate the complex relationship between humans, nature, temporality, and our spiritual past.

Utilizing LiDAR scanning, Impulse Response technology, and Ambisonic sound design, the VR experience meticulously captures each site's spatial and acoustic characteristics, providing an engaging experience for the audience. Detailed point cloud visual effects immerse users in the interplay between nature and decaying structures. Interactive elements allow users to uncover hidden layers of meaning, fostering an appreciation for the churches' architectural nuances. Romantic English poetry passages are integrated to evoke emotional connections with the audience.

This 16mm film uses the traditional techniques of moving image development, presenting contemporary dance in conjunction with Philip Larkin's poem 'Church Going.’

- 41st White Noise, Royal College of Art, London, UK.

- Migratory Birds 300 Canal Dream, Aranya Theatre Festival, Aranya x London, China, UK.

Or, after dark, will dubious women come

To make their children touch a particular stone;

Pick simples for a cancer; or on some

Advised night see walking a dead one?

Power of some sort or other will go on

In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;

But superstition, like belief, must die,

And what remains when disbelief has gone?

Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky,

- IRCAM Forum 2022, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR.

- Roadside Picnic Exhibition, Cromwell Place, London, UK.

- Migratory Birds 300 Canal Dream, Aranya Theatre Festival, Aranya x London, China, UK.

Audio-Visual Design.

This Project is collaborating with Designer Junyu Wen from CSM Course MA Narrative Environments.

‘Nocturnes: When the World Sleeps’ is a pop-up audio-visual experience and an online platform, looking to redefine our nighttime activities. In contrast to the social and market expectation of 8 continuous hours of sleep, which can induce anxiety, but may not apply to every individual. ’Nocturnes‘ challenges this notion by emphasising the beauty and naturalness of bi-phasic (segmented) sleep.

Echoes of the Abyss is an interdisciplinary audio-visual performance that immerses the audience in the enchanting underwater soundscape, using an open-source audio live stream captured by hydrophones at a deep-sea cabled observatory. Through the transformative power of artificial intelligence, the project reveals the hidden sounds and unseen images from the ocean depths, inviting the audience to perceive the world through the lens of sound. By blending improvisational techniques in music, coding, and visual art, we hope to transcend performance boundaries. The project aims to cultivate an appreciation for the intricate sonic landscapes of the oceans and raise awareness about the need to protect aquatic life from noise pollution and other human-induced threats. Through reflection and advocacy, Echoes of the Abyss seeks to inspire responsible stewardship and preservation of our fragile underwater ecosystems.

Project Credit

Concept: Cainy Yiru Yan, Bryan Yueshen Wu, Chang Meng, Shangyang Yu,

Sound performers: Bryan Yueshen Wu, Shangyang Yu

Visual performers: Cainy Yiru Yan, Chang Meng,

Visual & Concept Design.

Medium: 2022, Interactive Moving Image, Quadraphonic Soundscape, Drum.

In Collaboration with Devanshi Rungta, Xinyi Ren, Laura Selby, & the Textile Circulatory Centre

Catalyst of Transformation

As you turn the drum, the visual piece before you tells the story of material transformation. Watch how end-of-life textiles and bio-waste can be broken down and reformed anew. The images transport you to the nano plane where cellulose molecules grow, entangle and form back into renewed cellulose for circular materials.  As the drum turns, light and shadow envelop the space around you. A projection of the cellulose fibre structure transports you deeper within the renewed material form. 

Listen and feel the sounds of the material change of the renewed cellulose. A musical soundscape crafted from recordings capturing the transformation process, re-amplified through the table's surface.

Catalyst for change

Become a part of the catalyst for material transformation, as you turn the drum your gesture matches the rate of change in the visuals surrounding you. Through small actions, we can contribute to great progressions for change.

Round Sky, Square Earth is an audiovisual work collaborated with Ke Peng. Inspired by the ancient Chinese cosmology model of the sky and earth, this work seeks to translate the model through sound and visuals to create a new version — a passage that can link the past and now.

This work aims to transport the audience to the centre of a giant armillary in space by utilising spatial audio and immersive visuals. At the same time, the laser and projection are used as visual elements to ‘re-measure’ the Asian Astronomical map and respond to experimental music. Starting from the Sun, as the giant armillary sphere rotates and practical accompaniment with ancient instruments, it takes the audience on a slow Astronomical sound wave journey through the nine planets.

Performed in PASSAGE, IKLECTIK London UK.

The newly developed version of Celestial Armillary and Ubiquitous Wave has been exhibited at The Centre Pompidou IRCAM Forum Presentation FR, 2023.