Director 導演 | LU Chia-Hui 盧佳慧 CHANG Wen-Chieh 張文杰
Production Company 製作| Egret Cultural and Educational Foundation 白鷺鷥文教基金會
Taiwan | VR Interactive | Color | 23 min | Mandarin, English Subtitles 中文、英文字幕
SUNFLOWER-Rondo for the Celestials
“A surreal immersive experience of dreams reminisced”
Inspired by news of an elderly woman in the Eastern European war zone, who placed seeds in the pockets of invading soldiers, telling them when they fall in battle, their bodies will fertilize the soil from which sunflowers will bloom. Her bravery prompts a Formosan pianist to reflect and compose a rondo in memory of his late father, a fighter for democracy. She longs for dialogue with the heavens through her cyclical five-part rondo, seeking response and redemption, while inadvertently unearthing her own long-buried traumatic memories. The surreal visuals resonate and perpetually renew around the rondo, transforming relics and spiritual legacies into seeds of hope. The audience witnesses the faith of unwavering souls that will never surrender to darkness.
From the Artist / Director
“Sunflower” is born from the intersection of memory, resistance, and hope—a VR experience that transforms personal grief into collective resilience.
The genesis of this work lies in profound duality: created to honor my father, Dr. Hsiu-Yi Lu, a fighter for Taiwan Democracy; it simultaneously responds to the ongoing Ukrainian crisis and the 80th anniversary of World War II. The sunflower—my favorite flower and Ukraine’s national symbol—becomes our visual and metaphorical anchor, representing both intimate remembrance and global solidarity.
The work draws direct inspiration from an act of extraordinary courage: a Ukrainian woman who placed sunflower seeds in the pockets of invading soldiers, declaring that flowers would bloom where they fell. This gesture of defiant hope—transforming instruments of death into promises of life—epitomizes the transformative power that “Sunflower” seeks to harness through immersive storytelling.
As conflicts rage across Ukraine, the Middle East, and tensions mount around Taiwan, “Sunflower” emerges as both warning and beacon. The piece weaves together immersive art, performance, and interactivity to create a surreal meditation on survival, examining how communities endure through shared values of peace and human dignity. Each virtual element—from the piano composition that serves as the work’s emotional core to the interactive landscapes users navigate—reflects Taiwan’s cultural commitment to non-violence and compassion.
This VR experience challenges audiences to confront war’s devastation while refusing despair. Through the universal language of music and visual poetry, “Sunflower” asks viewers to become active participants in hope’s cultivation. The work’s interactive nature transforms passive observation into embodied engagement, making each participant complicit in the act of choosing resilience over surrender.
In creating “Sunflower,” I discovered that facing fear through art transforms both creator and audience. As we navigate an increasingly fractured world, this work stands as testament to art’s capacity to bridge divides and nurture what connects us across all boundaries.
My deepest aspiration is that Sunflower serves not only as a virtual journey but as a catalyst—empowering each participant to carry its message of hope beyond the screen and into our shared world.
《向暘—寫給天國的迴旋曲》以超現實沉浸原創影音呈現追憶與夢境
靈感來自於東歐戰地一名老婦人將種子放進侵略者的口袋，期待他們陣亡化為泥土並開出遍地向日葵的新聞。老婦人的勇敢使一位福爾摩沙的鋼琴家緬懷並創作一首迴旋曲遙寄已故的民主鬥士父親，期盼以週而復始的五段式音樂與天國對話、獲得回應與救贖，無意中卻也揭開自身封存多年的受創記憶。影像架構以迴旋曲為主軸，運用超現實手法將故人遺物與精神遺產化為希望種子，生生不息。觀眾將從中體驗到，黑暗中受苦的靈魂永不放棄的信念。
創作者 / 導演的話：
《向暘》是一場結合夢喚、記憶、抵抗與期盼的超現實VR 旅程，將個人的悲痛昇華為集體的希望，不僅是獻給父親盧修一博士，感念他為台灣民主奮鬥，也回應了俄烏之戰與二戰80週年。
深受烏克蘭老婦之舉的啟發，她於絕境中展現勇氣，化死亡為生命，轉反抗為希望，驅使我們創作了《向暘》。在當前全球衝突不斷、台灣周邊局勢日益緊張之際，期盼此作能成為一座燈塔，傳遞警示，更點亮希望。
作品透過沉浸、表演與互動，引領觀眾進入一場攸關生存的超現實參與式劇場。有請大家正視民主抗爭的血淚及戰爭的無情，藉由音樂的迴旋渲染及藝術影像的引導，從被動的旁觀轉為具體的參與，進而成為希望的使者，並播下光的種子，體會生命的韌性。
願這份給予希望的禮物，能在充滿挑戰的時代，賦予你我力量，驅散黑暗，並將光與溫暖持續傳遞，讓希望永續成長。