Nocturna

Challenge

The piece needed to feel tactile and alive. The interaction had to be soft, direct, and understandable without instructions, and the visual system needed to stay constantly generative, with no looping pre-rendered content.

The Table

I designed and built the table around a modular aluminum frame that could be broken down for transport and reassembled quickly on site. Inside, a short-throw projector sits near the floor and reflects off a first-surface mirror onto the back of the lycra, allowing rear projection without participants casting shadows across the image. The 43-by-36-inch surface sits at roughly 43 inches high, balancing a generous interaction area with a comfortable reach for pressing into the fabric.

The computer running the visuals and computer vision, the depth camera for interaction, and the projector all fit within the internal walls of the table, arranged carefully so nothing casts a shadow into the projected image.

System

A depth camera inside the table senses presses and deformation in the lycra surface. That interaction data drives a custom-built Physarum-based particle simulation in TouchDesigner, creating the feeling of a bioluminescent tide pool that reacts to touch and keeps evolving over time.