RIPPLE: Connecting people and nature
DELIVERED | BOTANICA 2021 | BRISBANE
An interactive water-based artwork that turns a landscape encounter into a personal experience of connection and change.
The opportunity
Commissioned for Brisbane City Council’s Botanica festival, RIPPLE brought projection, sound and a floating screen sculpture into a lagoon setting. Water became the subject, the setting and the emotional language of the work.
The experience
Participants used temperature sliders to influence animated states of water, from ice to liquid to vapour. Their own images dissolved and reformed within the artwork. Responsive sound and visuals connected an individual action to a shared public experience.
Documented delivery
The portfolio records a delivered council festival commission in 2021 and documents the floating sculpture, sensory interface and audience interaction. It does not supply an evaluation of environmental learning, visitor spending or attendance attributable to RIPPLE.
Landscape becomes an interface
The work demonstrates how environmental imagery can move beyond scenery. A person acts, the water changes, and the landscape appears to respond. The encounter invites reflection through participation.
Opportunities for a future commission
Environmental curiosity
Making water responsive gives audiences an accessible starting point for exploring change and ecological fragility. A future programme could pair the artwork with local waterway interpretation and facilitated learning.
Community connection
Participants see their actions change a shared environment. This creates opportunities for conversation between generations and a memorable way to encounter public art together.
Nature-led evening visitation
A landscape-based cultural attraction can give people a reason to explore a garden or waterfront after dark. A future commission could connect the visit with nearby dining and other cultural activity.
A Queensland application could connect local waterways, reef or rainforest interpretation with artist-led workshops and specialist ecology content. This is a nature-based engagement opportunity; ecotourism outcomes would require sustainable operation and demonstrated learning.
Audience insights and engagement data
Future versions could record selected water states, interaction duration and completed sessions. Combined with voluntary feedback, this could reveal which themes encourage exploration and help refine environmental interpretation. An optional sign-up could collect email addresses and stated interests for nature activities or future events, with separate consent for follow-up. Interaction alone would not identify a visitor or prove learning.
How a future commission could be evaluated
- Creative engagement
- Log water-state selections, completed sessions and duration; observe audience flow.
- Nature interests
- Use optional prompts to assess curiosity, recall and preferred environmental themes.
- Continued engagement
- Track voluntary email sign-ups and referrals to environmental or cultural programmes.
A useful commissioning step
Begin with a site and ecology assessment. Define water safety, habitat protection, access, weather limits and maintenance. Add a small facilitated learning programme and evaluate it alongside the artwork.
Sources and credits
Georgie Pinn portfolio/CV, pp. 6 and 11; artist and Interactor project listings. Future benefits and evaluation measures are proposals.