My Projects

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  Cimbalom Circle

  Cimbalom Circle is a series of musical tiles that create impromptu orchestras out of pedestrian choreographies. Commissioned for Budapest’s House of Music, signed by architect Sou Fujimoto, the work pays tribute to Hungary’s musical legacy. At the center of the artwork is the Cimbalom, a stringed instrument invented in the capital in 1874. People walk a tune, play their own games, or dance, creating ever-evolving contemporary compositions with traditional sounds. A key attraction of Liget Park, the artwork joined the permanent collection of currently Europe’s largest urban cultural development. The artwork lives permanently in the urban architecture and opens up the magic of playing music together for all ages and backgrounds. As people play along, inhibitions are lost and spontaneous performances take place. These performances bring a sense of closeness between users and onlookers. How it works: 36 interactive light units are embedded in concrete tiles. Place your foot, wheel, hand on a unit to play a note. Tap multiple sensors to play arpeggios. Explore alone or with others – the rhythms depend on the distance between the sensors played. Music emanates from the ground as if by magic thanks to in-house tailored solid speaker tiles, developed to blend into the pavement pattern.

  2022 CODAawards Entry 2022 CODAawards Top 100 Badge

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  Daydreamer

  Can cities be built for collective daydreaming? Rocking motions have been known to induce a state of daydreaming, proven to lessen stress and anxiety, while opening up the mind to be more intuitive and imaginative at finding solutions by simply letting go for a while. Daydreamer is a new sculptural series of interactive, slowly rocking benches that compose gentle music and encourage synced up choreographies. Conceived to create a ritual around a moment of pause in the urban realm, the artwork stimulates a communal experience in a soothing soundscape. Components: Three revolving long benches host a sound and sensing system. Each bench accommodates up to four people, finished in canadian white oak, with a powder-coated aluminum arch. Interactive LED lights are integrated in the arch and under the seat to emphasize movement. When people sit on the benches, and start pushing them to rock or spin, the mechanism inside each of the bench’s pivot center ensures the motion is slow. The benches rock in four quarters, or rotate 360˚ with a bit more push from the user. Music and light animations are triggered through motion detection, merging analog and digital movements. People may sit on the bench or hold the arch from a standing position, or from a wheelchair, to make music.

  2023 CODAawards Entry

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  Hello Trees

  Studies have shown that trees communicate in a secret language through airborne particles and their roots. In a forest, this mysterious chatter allows them to help each other and ultimately survive. Inspired by these imperceptible channels, Hello Trees is a poetic message board allowing humans to communicate with trees. This sensory path is an invitation to look up and take-in nature. Set under a canopy of centennial oaks —a natural hidden treasure in downtown Houston— Hello Trees is a series of luminous arches linked to listening stations. At each end of the pathway, microphones allow strollers to send messages to the trees. Once recorded, these voices start a slow journey through the arches and progressively turn into music. Following one’s voice along the path requires slowing down and looking up towards the sky. While admiring the beautiful foliage, passersby are transported by the soundscape – a concerto of voices and soothing melodies. Taking advantage of the universal language of music, Hello Trees is a tribute to the city’s commitment to civic engagement and to the diversity of Houston’s inhabitants.

  2020-project

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  Musical Swings

  Inspired by the popular 21 Balançoires (21 Swings) installation, The Swings: An Exercise in Musical Cooperation is a standalone musical installation available for international touring. The interactive installation consists of a series of musical swings. When used all together, the swings compose a musical piece in which certain melodies emerge only through cooperation. It’s a game where from the start you need to adjust to the actions of others.

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  Shade Parade

  Cities designed primarily for cars have many endless and shadeless sidewalks unfavorable or hostile to pedestrians. This has repercussions not only on mobility, but on equity and wellbeing. Shade Parade prototypes a very slow means of public transportation inviting passersby to glide oversized parasols along a rail to negotiate and gather in delightful ways. Hot, monotonous sidewalks are transformed into opportunities for play and collaboration, in this inspirational provocation to boost cities’ walkability. Take a parasol for a stroll, scoot on its base, walk or roll beside it. You may share the shade or exchange it at the end of your course with a fellow traveler coming the other way. Glide your way to work, enjoy the scenery and meet someone new. The parasols are quite slow no matter what. It isn’t about speed or efficiency, just the simple pleasures of moving together, and sharing comfort. You may notice that it is very hard to be angry, stressed, or sad, when gliding on a giant parasol.

  2022 CODAawards Entry

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  Walk Walk Dance

  Make music with your feet, 6 feet apart. Created during the pandemic, for the post-covid city, Walk Walk Dance is an interactive pathway of lines that trigger different musical patterns, transforming the act of walking (or waiting in line) into a collaborative performance. Play with physical distancing rules, one, two, three steps at a time. Because every city needs a dance strategy. DESCRIPTION A pathway invites pedestrians to make music with their feet, 6 feet apart. Sets of lines trigger different musical partitions, transforming the act of walking (or waiting in line) into a collaborative performance. All the equipment is enclosed in a chain of boxes and planters, adapting to any street slope, weighted down with local plants. Lines are simply drawn, painted or taped, not containing any technology. Their color represents different sets of instruments and invites people to move with the music they trigger. They can also be designed to encourage different types of circulation. Step on a single line and trigger notes that play either: -once, stimulating moving, traversing, re-triggering; -on a loop, encouraging stopping, keeping one foot on a line.

  2021 CODAawards Entry 2022 CODAawards Entry