Transparent Footprints of Invisible Giants

Transparent Footprints of Invisible Giants is an art project / urban intervention with a pair of stilts and a wooden backpack that records virtual video "footprints" during walking expedition in San Francisco to become a gentle, Invisible Giant.

What inspired you to make this project?:
I once heard a legend that a long long time ago, invisible giants roamed around the earth. According to the legend, they were so tall that their heads soared above the clouds. Despite their colossal stature, they were very gentle beings, and they walked slowly and carefully to avoid stepping on helpless humans and other creatures and trees. Because they walked so carefully, eventually the eyes on their faces atrophied, and they sprouted new eyes on the bottoms of their feet so that they could carefully observe the earth they roamed. They also formed an extra eye on the tops of their heads in order to permanently gaze upward to the heavens.

The ancient humans revered them as sacred beings who connect heaven and earth. It is believed that one can gaze the past, present, and future through the giants’ transparent footprints. These fossilized footprints are yet to be found. Perhaps, these benevolent beings are still silently, invisibly walking among us.

What kind of footprints will we humans leave behind on the future strata? What will be left behind long after our civilization is gone? What will remain unaffected by time? In my search for the answers to those questions, I find myself thinking about the invisible giants and their peaceful way of observing the earth that they walked upon.

I utilize our current digital video technology to create a wearable prototype to simulate the giants’ perspective and to leave my own transparent footprints on the distant future.

My quest for the invisible giants has just begun.

Actually, I made up this “legend” and this “legend” is inspired by a poem by a Japanese poet/fable writer from 1920s, Kenji Miyazawa. He has been casting a large influence on Japanese anime and manga creators which is evident in works by Hayao Miyazaki.