An interactive art piece built to bring strangers together for rest and play.
Hortus Lux mimics the structure of a succulent. Five petals, each four by eight feet, open into woven nylon hammocks — room for ten people to lie back at once, two to a leaf.
The base is built from a second layer of leaves, giving the whole piece the tiered, overlapping shape of a real plant. It's mostly steel with some wood, standing five and a half feet tall and twenty feet across.
Integrated LEDs run audio-reactive effects that draw people in from across the field. Once you're in a hammock with the headphones on, the light show syncs to the audio and to infrasound vibrations played directly into your petal — sound you feel as much as hear.
There's just under two hours of programmed content: guided meditations, immersive soundscapes, shared breathing exercises, and moments of dance music where the whole flower moves together. Each petal is hung on hinged suspension, so you can rock gently or bounce while you listen.
Hortus Lux is a tribute to the strangeness and symmetry of the natural world — the way a plant repeats itself outward, layer on layer. The most memorable moments tend to come from connecting with strangers during a pause. This is a place to lift your feet up and take one.