Celestial Garden

A collaboration between ICAT and SOVA, and created for the 2022 ACCelerate Creativity and Innovation Festival, Celestial Garden is an interactive installation where participants engage with inflated teardrop forms in real-time. Each nylon pendant is equipped with both sound and light that respond directly to the participants’ touch, creating a unique audiovisual soundscape.

At the dimly lit back end of Flag Hall in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, sixteen eight-foot teardrop forms hang from black metal trusses. Visitors can enter the installation from all sides and interact with the forms by gently pushing the outer surface to create a swinging motion. Each form reacts in real-time to the movements made by the participant: Lights within each form change color and dance with each interaction. Simultaneously, the speaker delivers a rippling mixture of layered sound.