From Prompt to Projection: Building a Digital Horse for Kyiv’s LED Techno Stage

Some stories begin with a sketch. This one started with a beat — a techno remix of “White Horse”, and a creative team that wanted to bring a character to life on three massive 15-meter LED screens presented on Ukrainian Day of the Constitution 28 June 2025. Together with Kyiv-based VJ collective Black Box and music production company SVET, I was invited to shape the visual identity of a digital horse, the one is bold, symbolic, and built for motion.

The horse was black. Not white, as in the original song and this inversion was intentional. We wanted a visual counterpoint to the iconic lyrics: “If you want to be rich, you must be a bitch.” The image had to provoke, not decorate. Through AI animation and digital character design, we built a totemic figure that somewhere between a myth, a club god, and a glitch in the machine.

The design process started with conceptual sketching in ChatGPT, and visual experimentation in Midjourney. I generated multiple AI moodboards based on folk motifs, post-human aesthetics, and techno symbolism. The team and I chose a version with black plastic sheen, gold embroidery inspired by Ukrainian Vyshyvanka, and an arrogant elegance that fit the track’s mood.

One of our main challenges was scaling AI-generated visuals for performance-grade LED walls. While Midjourney provided compelling stills, animation required another level. After testing several options (and breaking a few renders), we turned to Kling AI for smooth motion quality and used Higgsfield for expressive details. Artefacts and glitches turned into style choices. Technical limits shaped the final look.

My contribution was focused on visual development, style matching, and scene continuity, but not direct editing as I used to. Working with Black Box was a true collaborative exchange. They adapted the animations into a performance-ready sequence and handled LED optimization. Without their technical fluency, this digital installation wouldn’t have landed the way it did.

This wasn’t just an AI animation or a generative experiment. It was a staged ritual that amplified by collaboration. And somewhere between fractured pixels and choreographed light, a black horse danced across 45 meters of digital night.

Things we learned

* Scaling AI-generated material to massive LED walls requires compromise, patience, and technical teamwork.

* Imperfections in motion can become part of the character’s charm, if you embrace them.

* Choosing the right tools (Kling and Higgsfield in our case) matters more than chasing perfection.

* Good collaboration is not about agreeing that is about adapting together in time.

* Sometimes the best symbolism is not explicit. The black horse was never explained, but it resonated.

Project tags: AI animation, digital character design, generative visuals, VJ performance, techno stage, Midjourney, Kling, Higgsfield, LED installation, Kyiv digital art, posthuman totem