touch what grass?
touch what grass?
2026
2026
IMMERSIVE-INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION
IMMERSIVE-INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION
COSMOLOGY
COSMOLOGY
CAUSTICS
CAUSTICS
CYMATICS
CYMATICS
ART+SCIENCE
ART+SCIENCE
Photographed by Aman Deshmukh
Photographed by Aman Deshmukh
Photographed by Aman Deshmukh
Photographed by Aman Deshmukh
An interactive installation that invites viewers to sit on artificial grass beneath a darkened canopy, facing a hand-woven cityscape. Through voice-activated vibrations in water, participants generate shifting caustic light projections — producing the very artificial light that separates us from the stars.
In an era when we are told to “touch grass” to reconnect with the physical world, this installation asks: touch what grass? It confronts how much of the natural world we have replaced with our own artificial glow.
An interactive installation that invites viewers to sit on artificial grass beneath a darkened canopy, facing a hand-woven cityscape. Through voice-activated vibrations in water, participants generate shifting caustic light projections — producing the very artificial light that separates us from the stars.
In an era when we are told to “touch grass” to reconnect with the physical world, this installation asks: touch what grass? It confronts how much of the natural world we have replaced with our own artificial glow.
Photographed by Aman Deshmukh
Photographed by Aman Deshmukh
Interactions
Interactions
Viewers are invited to speak, hum, sing, or make any vocal sound into a microphone. Their voice is converted into physical vibrations via bass shakers attached to water trays. These vibrations create shifting patterns in the water that are transformed into dynamic caustic projections cast onto both the woven cityscape screen and the overhead canopy.
Viewers are invited to speak, hum, sing, or make any vocal sound into a microphone. Their voice is converted into physical vibrations via bass shakers attached to water trays. These vibrations create shifting patterns in the water that are transformed into dynamic caustic projections cast onto both the woven cityscape screen and the overhead canopy.
Microphones capture vocal inputs which are routed through an audio
mixer and a DAW
Spotlights cast the ripples as dynamic caustic projections across the screen and canopy
Bass shakers vibrate shallow
metal trays filled with water
Bass shakers vibrate shallow metal trays filled with water
Microphones capture vocal inputs
which are routed through an audio
mixer and a DAW
Bass shakers vibrate shallow metal trays filled with water
Spotlights cast the ripples as dynamic caustic projections across the screen and canopy
Microphones capture vocal inputs which are routed through an audio
mixer and a DAW
Process
Process
The installation grew out of early experiments with sound, vibration, and water caustics. The hand-woven screen was developed after focus group testing revealed that a perpendicular projection surface dramatically increased engagement and legibility of the light patterns.
The conceptual framework of the installation also evolved to adapt this addition. The choice to weave the cityscape by hand is a subtle acknowledgement of craft's contribution to the history of computation. The weave, in touch what grass?,represents our increasingly digital and artificial world, that at its core, is built of binary 1s and 0s.
The installation grew out of early experiments with sound, vibration, and water caustics. The hand-woven screen was developed after focus group testing revealed that a perpendicular projection surface dramatically increased engagement and legibility of the light patterns.
The conceptual framework of the installation also evolved to adapt this addition. The choice to weave the cityscape by hand is a subtle acknowledgement of craft's contribution to the history of computation. The weave, in touch what grass?,represents our increasingly digital and artificial world, that at its core, is built of binary 1s and 0s.
early cymatics test
process of weaving the
painted paper strips
focus group participants testing the cymatics
focus group participants reacting to the caustics
cymatics + caustics test
testing the caustics
on woven paper strips
early cymatics test
process of weaving the
painted paper strips
focus group participants testing the cymatics
focus group participants reacting to the caustics
cymatics + caustics test
testing the caustics
on woven paper strips
early cymatics test
process of weaving the
painted paper strips
focus group participants testing the cymatics
focus group participants reacting to the caustics
cymatics + caustics test
testing the caustics
on woven paper strips
early cymatics test
process of weaving the painted paper strips
focus group participants
testing the cymatics
focus group participants
reacting to the caustics
cymatics +
caustics test
testing caustics on woven paper strips
caustics = shifting light patterns that are reflected or refracted by a curved surface or object
cymatics = vibrations caused by sound waves in physical matter, these can create intricate geometric patterns
caustics = shifting light patterns that are reflected or refracted by a curved surface or object
cymatics = vibrations caused by sound waves in physical matter, these can create intricate geometric patterns
The Story
The Story
For most of history, the night sky was a shared global resource that shaped how we told time, navigated, and understood our place in the universe. Today, more than 80% of the world’s population lives under skyglow. The artificial lights of our cities have steadily erased the stars in the night sky from view.
More recently, the rapid proliferation of satellite megaconstellations — most visibly Elon Musk's Starlink network — has introduced a new layer of obstruction, cluttering the sky and Earth’s exosphere. We have never known more about the universe, yet we have rarely been less able to simply look up at it.
For most of history, the night sky was a shared global resource that shaped how we told time, navigated, and understood our place in the universe. Today, more than 80% of the world’s population lives under skyglow. The artificial lights of our cities have steadily erased the stars in the night sky from view.
More recently, the rapid proliferation of satellite megaconstellations — most visibly Elon Musk's Starlink network — has introduced a new layer of obstruction, cluttering the sky and Earth’s exosphere. We have never known more about the universe, yet we have rarely been less able to simply look up at it.
For most of history, the night sky was a shared global resource that shaped how we told time, navigated, and understood our place in the universe. Today, more than 80% of the world’s population lives under skyglow. The artificial lights of our cities have steadily erased the stars in the night sky from view.
More recently, the rapid proliferation of satellite megaconstellations — most visibly Elon Musk's Starlink network — has introduced a new layer of obstruction, cluttering the sky and Earth’s exosphere. We have never known more about the universe, yet we have rarely been less able to simply look up at it.
© 2026 | All rights reserved
© 2026 | All rights reserved
