Interactive installation · Projection mapping

SUN: Interactive Energy

Year: 2025
Role: Concept, TouchDesigner build, projection, motion
Tools: TouchDesigner, After Effects, Blender

Violet particles and an orange glowing pediment projected on a church entrance at night

The brief

A media installation based on the Kardashev Scale. It imagines a future where people capture all of the sun's energy, and lets visitors today steer that energy with their own bodies.

01 / Process

The idea

The Kardashev Scale ranks civilisations by how much energy they use. A Type II civilisation would harvest the whole output of its star with a Dyson sphere. SUN turns that into something you can touch: the star responds to the person in front of it.

Diagram of the Kardashev Scale: Type I planetary, Type II stellar and Type III galactic civilisations

02 / Process

Planning the space

Before going on site, I modelled the room, the projector throw and the sensor position in 3D, so the projection and the tracking zone lined up on the first try.

3D model of the installation room showing the projector, the screen and the visitor zone

03 / Process

Body tracking

A depth sensor reads the visitor's silhouette, and TouchDesigner turns the movement into forces on a particle system of a few hundred thousand points. Raise your arm and the star flares.

Visitor raising an arm in front of a wall of blue and violet particles that flare around the hand

Visitor standing in front of the church facade during the projection

04 / Process

Mapping the facade

For the outdoor version, the piece was mapped onto a church facade, with the sun and its energy flowing along the architecture.

Church bell towers at night with a bright sun projected between them

Wide view of the church facade with the particle projection over the doorway

Teal particles flowing over the carved stone above the church door

Close view of teal light pouring down the church pediment

Deliverables

Interactive TouchDesigner installation
Facade projection mapping
3D venue planning
Festival documentation

Results

Exhibited at SEE Djerba 2025, International Media Art (Houmt Souk & Guellala, Tunisia, Aug 14–17, 2025)
Exhibited at Lichtrouten 2025, International Forum for Light in Art and Design (Lüdenscheid, Germany, Mar 20–29, 2025)
Exhibited at Médina des Lumières 2025, International Media Art (Tunisia)

Blue particles swirling around the church entrance

Violet particles spreading across the facade with a teal glow at the door

Projection of violet and teal particles with a red spiral near the top of the facade

Red spiral galaxy shape above the church door, with violet particles below

Festival documentation See it on Behance