0.0D Diopter Zero (2026) (Work in progress)
Animation
4’42
Animation: Canvas Wan
Sound Design: Xueqing Yu
0 0D Diopter Zero centers on the act of seeing. Borrowing from the optical concept of “zero diopter,” the title suggests a perceptual state between focus and defocus.
The sound design extends this ambiguous state of perception. Most of the sounds are sourced from recordings of real objects, such as toy, shell bells, low-quality music boxes, knives, wood, keys, and glass window. Through subtle pitch adjustments, these recognizable materials gradually lose their original identities and transform into a sound texture that exists between the concrete and the abstract. Like the visual textures in the animation, the sound retains a sense of physical reality while creating an unfamiliar, out-of-focus listening experience.
A Book of Sand (2024)
Experimental Documentary Film
10’34
Director: Linrui Xiong
Sound Design: Xueqing Yu
The Book of Sand is an experimental documentary exploring history through cinematic approach. Amid the persistent regional wars of recent years, director Linrui Xiong reflects on the unchanging nature of human conflict, where history seems to consume humanity itself. Constructing the human world through the four elements—wind, fire, water, and earth—the film presents history as an omnipresent force, both above and beneath the written word. A notebook, inscribed in multiple languages, records the regional wars that took place between 2020 and 2024, ultimately illustrating how human writing itself becomes part of history.
80% of the sound in the sound design comes from a recording of seawater on the island of Korčula, Croatia. Using Granulator II, I rediscovered the character of water—it can form textures like flowing sand, be melodic, soft, and powerful, or turn merciless and brutal.
Into the Digital Cartographic Void (2024)
Video Installation
9’13
Dutch design week 2024
Research and Video: Canvas Wan
Sound Design: Xueqing Yu
“Into the Digital Cartographic Void” from Canvas Wan investigates digital censorship through signs and representations. The video essay focuses specifically on the visual effects of censorship in digital cartography-the visually missing parts and other form of absence extending beyond visuality. It further questions and reverses the causality of media as a neutral agent and censorship as an external force acting upon it.
The sound design enhances the animated visuals through a blend of electronic effects, metallic sounds, gaming audio, and playful rhythmic segments, creating a dynamic and immersive experience.