Spaceship Earth is a large-scale interactive art installation that invites participants into a glowing, cushioned dome surrounded by a kinetic ball machine. Inside, sensors track movement while light and sound shifts with energy levels and responds to imbalances. Visitors must work together to hand-crank glowing balls to the top of the machine—illuminating the system and keeping the atmosphere playful and serene. If neglected, the space reacts: lights become erratic, sound grows unsettling, and a mist begins to fill the space.
The piece debuted at Burn in the Forest 2022, funded by the Greater Vancouver Interactive Art Society (GVIAS), and realized in partnership with a talented build crew and collaborators.
Problem
How do we design an art space that encourages people not just to experience, but to care for a shared environment? In a time of climate fatigue and digital overload, how might we create space to viscerally feel our impact on a system—and each other—without using shame, instruction, or overt narrative?
Spaceship Earth builds on ideas explored in a project for my Master of Educational Technology, Biosphere 2.1, to address this challenge, seeking to create a socially inviting and metaphorically rich space where effort, feedback, and interconnection are felt physically and emotionally.
Action
Drawing from theories in constructivist learning, behavior design, and media ecology, Spaceship Earth was designed as a continuous feedback system. Key features included:
- A crank-powered ball machine that participants could activate manually—sending glow-in-the-dark balls travelling on rails.
- Infrared and ultrasonic sensors that tracked motion, presence, and participation, triggering changes in ambient light, sound, and fog levels.
- A circular, padded interior that encouraged lounging, observation, and social interaction—creating space for both active play and passive awe.
- Environmental messaging printed at the top of the structure, such as:
“There are no passengers aboard Spaceship Earth, only crew members” and “Spaceship Earth is fragile.”
These elements combined into an emergent, ruleless system—participants had to discover for themselves how to influence their environment, just as we do in the real world.
Results
Spaceship Earth was successfully installed throughout Burn in the Forest, 2022. It functioned as both a playful hangout space and an emergent environmental metaphor—drawing participants in through interaction and collaborative discovery. The glowing ball machine quickly became the centerpiece, attracting attention and action.
Key results emerged across four main areas:
- Ball machine as focal point: The crank and glowing balls captivated visitors, providing clear feedback and encouraging interaction.
- Learning through play: Participants discovered the rules naturally by observing the space’s changing atmosphere.
- Awe and reflection: Ambient lighting and messaging inspired wonder and social connection.
- Flexible engagement: The space supported both active and passive participation, welcoming all visitors.
Learnings
- Feedback is everything. Immediate, visible feedback (the crank and ball system) was essential for engagement. Participants were more likely to explore other elements once they had a clear, satisfying way to interact.
- Metaphor > instruction. Rather than narrating what to do or explaining the purpose, the space taught through experience. Participants learned to observe, collaborate, and infer the rules organically.
- Play invites care. By centering joy and wonder, the piece encouraged a sense of responsibility—not through guilt, but through co-ownership of a beautiful system.
- Multi-sensory layering deepens immersion. The combination of light, sound, fog, and touch created a richly immersive experience that was accessible and memorable across ages and backgrounds.
- Logistics. The piece was large and complex resulting in extraneous logistical considerations surrounding building location, storage, transportation, setup, and take-down. Considerations to logistics were reactionary and future projects will consider logistics as early in the design phase to drive innovation.
