Dream of Walnut Palaces (2025) is an award-winning ten-minute computer-animated film that offers a dreamlike and alternative interpretation of history by examining the exchange of knowledge between Asia and Europe during the Enlightenment. The work follows a Taoist scholar’s journey to Paris in the 1780s and speculates on the idea that Taoist metaphysics played a significant role in the emergence of the Enlightenment and modern science.

Wendi Yan (b. 1999, Beijing) combines research, speculative storytelling, and digital technology in her artistic practice. She uses CGI animation, game engines, and conceptual artistic methods to explore how knowledge is constructed and how science and history are produced. At the same time, her works open up alternative perspectives on the past and on the relationships between East and West.

Dream of Walnut Palaces was commissioned by THE VH AWARD, initiated by Hyundai Motor Group.