Confluence is an immersive interactive installation that bridges physical gesture and digital phenomena through real-time fluid simulation. At the heart of the piece is a laser-cut cairn, a sculptural, stackable form embedded with a sensor that continuously reads its orientation and movement. As users handle and reposition the cairn, their gestures are translated directly into the fluid simulation displayed on screen, altering its direction, flow, and color in real time.
The result is an intimate feedback loop between the hand and the image, every subtle tilt, rotation, or shift of the cairn ripples outward into the fluid, creating an ever-changing visual landscape that is wholly responsive to human touch. No two interactions produce the same result, making each encounter with the piece unique.
Confluence draws on the symbolic resonance of the cairn, historically a marker of presence, passage, and accumulation, and reframes it as an instrument of digital expression. The act of stacking or moving stones, a gesture rooted in mindfulness and wayfinding, becomes the mechanism through which a living, breathing simulation is given form and direction.