Phoebe’s Playground is a multisensory VR, interactive Installation inspired by ‘Lunar Gardening’. Participants will explore the relationship between the moisture in plants and the gravity of the moon through a lunar cycle.

Two viewers are invited to step barefoot into a traditional Japanese Zen Garden. The garden is lit by a slow creeping light representing the moon, which gradually illuminates rugged geometric rocks that extrude from groomed sand. Once participants are immersed into VR, the garden becomes alive. The black geometric shapes  transform into photorealistic boulders and lush greenery burgeons from the barren sand.

After getting their bearings, a call to action will appear; VR footprints will guide them each to a rock. Whilst approaching, the moon begins to wane, and the moisture in the ground appears to dry out. Touching the rock they’ll feel the vibrations of the moisture being sucked from its pores.

Next as the moon enters it’s waxing phase, more footprints lead them to a rotten tree stump. The participants, now reunited, stand by the shell of a fallen tree. Slowly a complex physics simulation begins to light up the darkness. A fan, mounted in the stump, heightens the experience by rushing air past them. The tree is ephemerally brought back to life through a detailed physics simulation of moisture drawn from the roots of the tree up to the leaves by the gravitational pull of the moon. Looking up, they will see a full moon above them.