CONCEPT¶
(UN)ROOTED¶
What it is about¶
Unrooted is an interactive art installation that explores the contemporary meaning of rootedness and belonging in an age of mobility, digital interconnection, and shifting identities. The work creates a sensory and reflective space where visitors can physically and emotionally explore what it means to feel grounded.
Through a combination of organic materials, participatory processes, and interactive technology, the installation makes visible and tangible the ways people connect—to places, to others, and to themselves.
Background¶
In a time of constant change, where living environments, identities, and social reference points are continuously shifting, the question of rootedness becomes increasingly relevant. High mobility, frequent relocation, and digital mediation can create both new forms of connection and a growing sense of displacement.
The project emerges from the artist's personal experience of feeling both connected and unrooted—of belonging everywhere and nowhere at the same time. From this tension arises the central question:
How do we root ourselves in motion?
Rootedness in this project is not understood as a fixed state tied to geography, but as an evolving process formed through interaction, shared experiences, and emotional presence. Between belonging and alienation, movement and stillness, Unrooted creates a space to explore the nuances of arrival, foreignness, and connection.
Participatory Process¶
The installation is created through the participation of different people.
Participants receive a questionnaire asking questions such as: Where do you feel the strongest sense of belonging? or How strong does this feeling of belonging currently feel? (rated from 1–10).
Their answers are translated into a parametric design that changes according to their responses. For example, a stronger sense of belonging generates thicker root paths in the design, while weaker connections create thinner and more fragile structures.
Based on this design, the artist produces a custom laser-cut mold for each participant. Together with the mold, participants receive a small growing kit containing seeds (cat grass and barley) and instructions.
Participants cultivate the roots for around ten days. During this time the plants grow through the designed paths of the mold, forming organic root structures shaped by the parametric design.
After the growing period, the participants return their pieces to the artist. All returned works are then assembled into a large textile-like surface resembling a quilt of interconnected roots. The artist also contributes her own grown roots to the collective piece.
Through this process, individual experiences of belonging become part of a shared visual and material structure.
Global Participation¶
A web application allows people from anywhere in the world to participate in the project. By answering the questionnaire online, users can instantly generate their personal parametric mold design and download the file.
Visitors to the exhibition can also participate directly in the space. A tablet placed in the exhibition allows them to answer the questionnaire and generate their own mold design on site.
Interactive Exhibition¶
The assembled root blanket becomes the central element of the exhibition. Embedded touch and proximity sensors allow visitors to interact with the installation.
Exhibition Setup¶
The root blanket is presented on a rectangular table with a black surface, allowing the organic root structures to stand out visually. The installation is positioned so that visitors can walk around it from all sides, encouraging slow observation and physical proximity.
Next to the table, a screen displays the video projection connected to the installation. The projection shows seeds and roots slowly growing, visualizing the hidden process that usually takes place beneath the soil.
Interaction¶
When a hand approaches the blanket, an ultrasonic sensor activates the projection of growing seeds and roots. When the hand moves away, the growth stops. The roots only continue to grow when contact or proximity is maintained, symbolizing the importance of staying connected to one's roots.
Another proximity sensor controls an ambient soundscape of root growth and natural sounds, which intensifies as visitors approach the installation.
Both the video and the sound recordings are created by the artist during the process of growing the roots, linking the digital layer of the installation directly to the physical cultivation process.
Aim¶
Unrooted engages with themes of roots, home, connection, and disconnection—questions that touch people regardless of age, culture, or origin.
By transforming the growth of roots into a collective artwork, the project visualizes how individuality and community intertwine. Each contribution is unique, yet becomes part of a larger interconnected structure.
In a time where many people experience fragmentation and isolation, the installation creates a space for reflection and shared experience. It invites visitors to reconsider what "home" can mean today and how a sense of belonging can emerge even in constant movement.
Research Focus¶
My conceptual focus lies in the intersection of art, technology, and botany—translating physical experience into digital presence and linking corporeality with digital visualization.
The work examines how tactile, human impulses continue to exist and become visible in digital space, forming a new kind of rootedness: not as static belonging, but as a living, multilayered relationship between human, nature, and technology.
Tools and Materials¶
- Rhino / Grasshopper – Creation of parametric molds and forms.
- 3D Printing – Fabrication of molds for root growth.
- Arduino – Sensor integration (touch and proximity).
- TouchDesigner – projection and visualization.
- E-textiles & Sensor Systems – Linking physical interaction and digital response.
- Biomaterials – Cultivation and growth of living roots.
Skills¶
On a personal level, my goals are to:
- Master Rhino/Grasshopper for parametric design.
- Learn Arduino sensor integration (touch/proximity).
- Explore TouchDesigner for visualization.
- Grow roots in parametric shapes and integrate them into interactive systems.