Iron Fine Arts and Art Installation Design · 2020
Golden City City
by Arlene Sun
- A' Design Award 2020 Iron Winner in Fine Arts and Art Installation Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Spdl Design Lab
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 10,729
- Verification code B25FC902EE · Verify this award
About Golden City City
Golden City is a mixed media art installation made from discarded computer parts. The work measures 30 by 30 inches and combines abstract acrylic paint on canvas with electronic waste, metallic coatings, lighting and an Arduino controller. Damaged components were collected from waste piles and placed in a new context rather than repaired. The golden surfaces give the parts a second life and turn them into objects of attention. The intent is to raise awareness of electronic waste and to question how value is given to things.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- When new technology comes out we purchase the new and discard the old. What is the the value of those discarded technologies? Is it garbage? And should be buried in the landfill. Or does it still have value ? What is the environmental cost of land-filling those devices? These question inspired me to create Golden City with used land-filled computer parts. I want ignite people's environmental consciousness by given a new life to those discarded parts. The Golden Life.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Abstract acrylic and mixed media on canvas 30'' × 30''
- Tags
- Abstract Acrylic, Mixed Media, Installation Art, Exhibition, Sustainable Design, Electronic Wastes, Green Design, Golden City
- Production Technology
- Acrylic, Electronic Waste, Metallic Coatings, Arduino, Lighting
- Design Challenge
- How can I use it to catch up all the attention from my audience? Is the project unique, creative and imaginative? Does it offer a new and ground-breaking value proposition in the social impact sector?
- Project Duration
- The project started in December 2017 in New York and finished in April 2019 in New York, and was exhibited in Novado Gallery in April-May 2019.
- Operation Flow
- Curator: Dandi Gu, Academic Advisor: Zi
- Research
- In this era of digitally, filled with virtual objects and digital models, we still hold the old commitment to things. This commitment is reflected in, for example, our preference for materializing concepts – whether it is an abstract theory, a comic character, or a digital image, we want to turn the abstract doctrine into a metal breast-pin on the chest, materializing the comic character into a doll, printing digital images into files or photos. In any case, we hope that we can turn non-objects into objects - those that can be grasped with and touchable by our hands. We believe that only the objected things are real - after all, from various aspects, we are also things – in one way or another, our attachments and detachments toward each other and the world will end up with things. Thus comes our pathological roots of fetishism.
In a world of things, people have long believed that the shape of things has a deeper meaning. This conviction gave birth to the so-called Metaphysics – just as in the long Neolithic era, people once had a superstitious obsession with the metal buried in the ground: people treated metal as another form of human being, and excavating them from the ground would interrupt the process of cocooning in the earth. A vast body of knowledge is built upon this belief - Alchemy. The alchemists' mission is not to extract gold from the metal, but to eventually combine the metal with the flesh, and to achieving the final refinement of Philosopher's Stone—the object that allows everything freely transforming its form through it.
Would art be the Philosopher’s Stone? Or would our computers and smartphones be? While there seems to be no conclusive answer for this pursuit, every device around us is transforming the form of some things in its way. This pursuit has expanded into a series of questions under the hands of the artist Arlene Sun: How to turn a panel painting into a sculpture- into a devise that phonate – into a device that interacts – into a device that acts. As she chooses to scavenge the damaged electronic components from the waste pile, these 'problematic' electronic components were fixed in her hands, not by repairing but shifting into a different context than they used to be located. The devices are transformed from e-wastes into vital parts of works. The value of these devices has grown a thousand folds simply because of relocating into a different context – isn't this a way of forging gold from metal?
At this moment, these electronic components are framed into the frame, turning into the target of our vision in this space. Their another layer of meaning has been excavated in such away. Doesn't our own meaning usually come from the things around us? When we talk about meaning, don’t things always be the strongest bonds between us and our destiny? So What is our commitment to things? What do we mean when we intervene the fate of things? Who is the strong definer of whose fate? Is there a deep oriental gesture embedded in this cherished of things? Artist Arlene Sun responds to these questions via the works exhibiting here. - Inspiration
- How to understand Value? I thought the value generate only when you care about it. The thought related me to started to think about the Value between technology and ecology. Nowadays, AI already into our life everywhere, but we still need to evoke much more attentions on solution of the environment. In the future the smart life is not just wear a VR glasses to escape from the reality. We are not able to live in a virtual world with environmental pollution, electronic wastes, abandoned resource.How do we determine value?
- Image Credits
- Image / Photo: Echo, Dylan
- Patents
- Arlenesun Solo Mixed Media Art Exhibition
Colors of Golden City City
Grand Interview about Golden City City
The “GOOD AS GOLD” series began with a simple but urgent question: When new technology emerges, we discard the old. But what is the true value of these discarded objects? Are they merely garbage? My work seeks to challenge this linear perception of value. By collecting e-waste from landfills such as motherboards, memory chips, and graphic cards and transforming them into artworks like “Golden City”, I aim to provoke a deeper conversation about consumption, memory, and ecological responsibility. The very act of recontextualizing these components into a city-like structure invites viewers to see not waste, but a landscape of latent meaning a “golden life” reborn from neglect.
My obsession with gold runs deep. I’ve always been drawn to anything gold even the gold teeth popular in American hip-hop culture fascinate me. During my studies at Parsons School of Design, I created a series of works centered around this color. Some might call it "materialism," implying a fixation on monetary value. But to me, value has never been about price; it’s about what you care about. Something has value if you cherish it; if you don’t, no price tag can bestow it. An expensive handbag, for instance, holds far less value to me than the potential to make people pause and reflect. I chose gold precisely to hijack its cultural power to make people stop and look at what they normally disregard. By gifting these abandoned fragments a golden skin, I am not merely beautifying trash I am performing a kind of visual alchemy. The coating acts as a metaphor for hidden potential: what society discards, art can elevate. In “Golden City”, “Golden Cluster”, and “Golden State”, the gold surface becomes a mirror reflecting our own relationship with value questioning why we dismiss these intricate, once-precious objects. It’s an aesthetic gesture that whispers: What if everything we throw away still shines? My goal is to make e-waste impossible to ignore, to hold the viewer’s attention for just one minute longer, and direct that attention toward the value of our environment.
The fundamental challenge began with sourcing the materials themselves a surprisingly difficult process. Beyond my own discarded devices, which are far from sufficient for an art installation, I had no idea where to start. In New York, after a long search, I located a repository in Flushing near an airport a public storage area where discarded electronics, from home appliances to mobile phones, were temporarily held. Like a recycling bin that might be emptied weekly or even bi-weekly, this place accumulated electronic refuse until collection. There, with a friend, I salvaged a cardboard box of circuit boards before they were hauled away. This act of collection itself was fraught with difficulty, compounded by the strict regulations governing electronic waste globally. These regulations, which often prohibit individuals from shipping or transporting e-waste, continue to pose significant challenges even today. Whenever “Golden City” is invited to exhibit overseas, we face a maze of complex customs and approval procedures. The sheer volume of electronic components and chips within the installation often leads to failed approvals, forcing us to abandon plans for physical exhibitions unless I can travel to the host country to create a site-specific version. This reality underscores that the obstacles are not merely technical but systemic. The immediate sensory challenge was also visceral. Driving back with that box filled my car, and then my apartment, with a strange, persistent odor of e-waste. Carrying the box up to my studio, passersby would cover their noses, while I, dressed in high fashion, held the very source of that smell a moment of profound irony. Technically, working with these reclaimed electronics was an exercise in empathy. Integrating Arduino and lighting meant wrestling with circuits never designed to be part of an artistic whole, troubleshooting unstable connections and signal interference. Yet these challenges became part of the concept: the flickering lights in “Golden City” mimic the “life” still present in these dormant materials, their technical fragility echoing the environmental and regulatory fragility we so often confront.
We often preserve what we deem precious paintings, sculptures, artifacts. But what about the material heritage of our digital age? We are living through accelerating epochs: from the Steam Age to the Industrial Age, and now into the AI era. Each transition leaves behind a sedimentary layer of obsolete technology, a "fossil record" of our collective desires and innovations. Fashion cycles, life recurs, and so too does the spirit of these materials. By turning e-waste into fine art, I am challenging the very hierarchy of preservation. In Golden City, a discarded CPU becomes an architectural element; in Golden State, a heartbeat sensor gives data a pulse. These works ask: Can value be found not in permanence, but in transformation? Not in the untouched, but in the reimagined? My work proposes that preservation is not about stasis, but about continuous renewal a form of artistic and ecological (reincarnation) for the technological age.
Alchemy was never just about turning lead into gold it was about transcending material limitations. In the same spirit, Golden City is not just about recycling; it’s about re-enchanting the material world. Our technological progress has become a kind of disenchantment we consume, discard, and forget. This work asks: Can technology and ecology coexist alchemically? Can we transform not only materials, but also our consciousness? The gold here is both literal and symbolic a call to see technology not as a tool of disposal, but as a medium of renewal.
The interaction is triggered by a simple, yet profound gesture: a wave of the hand. This gesture is the heart of the piece it means both farewell and welcome. With a wave, visitors bid farewell to the era of the discarded technology before them, while simultaneously welcoming its rebirth as art. The Arduino-controlled lighting responds to this gesture, igniting the canvas in a cascade of light that reveals the hidden city within. This isn't just technological integration; it's embodied ecology. When you wave and the lights respond with your rhythm, you are no longer a spectator. You perform the cycle of letting go and renewal. You are complicit. You are alive and so, the work suggests, is what you’ve thrown away.
Initially, Golden City was an aesthetic experiment in material transformation. But over those two years, it grew into a profound philosophical excavation. I began seeing these components not as dead objects, but as artifacts of human desire each chip once represented a dream, a purchase, a moment of technological hope. That realization reshaped the entire “GOOD AS GOLD” project: I recognized that sustainability is not just a technical challenge, but a cultural and emotional one. This understanding propelled the series forward. Golden Cluster (2021) was subsequently acquired into the permanent collection of the Shanghai New Golden Bridge Environmental Protection Museum a pivotal moment that transformed the work from exhibition object into public heritage. Then, the latest iteration, Golden State, debuted in Beijing’s 798 Art Center in October 2022, where it reached new audiences and expanded the conversation around art and sustainability. Most significantly, these installations attracted attention from environmental non-profits in both China and the United States, leading to collaborative art initiatives. This not only validated the project’s core message but also opened a new chapter in my practice I’ve now formally stepped into the realm of public benefit, using art as a bridge to collective ecological responsibility.
To be perfectly candid, I was delighted that my work Golden City received the A' Design Award. This honor is a wonderful affirmation of my artistic creation centered on fine arts installation. While my work takes gold as its core metaphor, I deeply cherish this well-deserved recognition. More importantly, this award offers me an excellent platform to spread my ideas. It acts as a powerful loudspeaker to draw public attention to the issue of electronic waste and environmental protection. I believe this recognition lets more people hear our voice about eco-consciousness, and it also inspires me to keep moving forward. I hope through this achievement, more people can discover the hidden value of discarded electronic materials. I will keep creating and strive to let everyone see the unique "gold" embodied in these repurposed wastes.
At the Novado Gallery exhibition, art critic Lin Zi, perceptively noted that the work “blurs the boundary between painting and technology.” This intellectual recognition was gratifying, as it aligned with my intent to challenge categories. However, the responses that resonated with me on a deeper, more human level continued to unfold in subsequent exhibitions. A particularly profound moment occurred later, at our 2022 show in Beijing's 798 Art Center. A three-year-old boy with autism stood captivated before Golden State the third iteration of the series. The installation, activated by a heartbeat sensor, caused sixteen mechanical modules to pulse and lights to flicker in sync with the viewer's own heart. He interacted with it quietly for a long time, and then said, "My heartbeat is so beautiful." His father, standing beside him, was moved to tears, sharing that he never imagined his autistic son would express something so poignant. While this happened after Novado, it crystallized the very essence of what I hoped to achieve from the beginning: to create a work that is not just seen but felt, that doesn't just deliver a message but forges a profound, personal connection. It confirmed that the emotional reevaluation of value I aimed to spark in New York was indeed possible, and that the conversation started with Golden City could continue to grow and touch lives in unexpected ways.
At C.L.A.P. US, we operate at the confluence of technology, art, and design not as separate disciplines, but as parallel processes that, when creatively synchronized, can reimagine our material and digital worlds. Golden City embodies this very ethos: it treats technology as narrative material, art as a critical intervention, and design as a medium for ecological dialogue. The lab’s new name Creative Lab for Async Parallel reflects our commitment to working with asynchronous systems and parallel realities, whether cultural, temporal, or technological. Looking ahead, we are exploring bio-digital assemblies and data-driven ecosystems creating works that integrate living organisms with reclaimed electronics, not merely representing life, but enacting it. Our goal is to render visible the invisible threads between creation, obsolescence, and renewal.