Captured during the exhibition. The live installation responds to physical presence in the room.
The brief was precise and open at the same time: design an interactive immersive installation where the space responds dynamically to the people inside it. The technology constraint was given: TouchDesigner for the visual system, Arduino for the sensor layer. Everything else was a design problem.
The first question was not technical. It was experiential. What should it feel like to stand inside this installation? What is the emotional register? We landed on water. Not water literally, but water as a behaviour: fluid, responsive, unpredictable within constraints, beautiful when disturbed.
The brief did not specify a visual metaphor. We tested three: fire (fast, aggressive particles), electricity (sharp, jagged paths), and water (flowing, dispersive movement). Water was chosen because it matched the desired emotional register: calm until disturbed, then responsive and fluid. It also allowed the installation to be peaceful to simply stand in without interacting.
The particle system could respond to hand presence either by attracting particles toward the hand or repelling them outward. We built both. Attraction created a sense of control that felt too gamified. Repulsion created a sense of disturbance that felt more honest to the physical metaphor. Like a hand moving through water, the particles flow away from presence rather than toward it.
ElevenLabs was used to generate ambient audio that shifted in texture and intensity based on overall particle system activity. We deliberately avoided direct audio feedback to individual gestures because it would make the experience feel like a game. The sound was environmental: the room had a sound state, not individual interactions.
The installation had no signage or instructions. Visitors discovered the interaction by accident: reaching toward the projection, noticing the response, then exploring intentionally. This discovery moment was the most important moment of the experience. Instructions would have destroyed it.
The installation ran for three days as part of a college design exhibition. The most consistent observation: people who had been told about the interaction had less interesting experiences than people who discovered it themselves. The second observation: children and non-designers spent longer at the installation than design students. They were less self-conscious about interacting.
The ElevenLabs audio layer shifted the atmosphere of the entire room even for people who were not directly engaging with the installation. Several visitors stood at the periphery for extended periods without approaching the projection, which was an unintended but welcomed behaviour.