Transition from tradition

The show Transition comprises eight largescale installations, including Winter Solstice.

"To get an idea is the easy part, but turning it into a piece is tougher. I have to experiment with an idea for a long time."

In another work, All Quiet Beyond the Heart, he uses a linear spectrogram in a dark room, where visitors can see only a beam of light falling on a potted plant and music can be only heard from one direction due to the effects of light and sound.

Zheng has long wanted to bring music into his works. Since high school he dreamed of becoming a drummer, and the motivation for him to study hard was that his parents had promised to buy him a set of drums if only he got good marks.

"If I weren't an artist, I would most probably be a drummer," he says.

"I will continue to use music in future, too."

Zheng also uses visual support to enhance the audiences' experiences of his art. For example, his Light Breeze at Dongting Lake has a video projected onto a big metallic circle to show how lakes reflect sunlight.