Beneath the Swarm: An Underwater Meditation
TYPE & TECH Realtime AI / Event Installation
Beneath the Swarm is an immersive installation shaped by the rhythms of marine life. Drawing on the collective behaviours of fish, turtles, jellyfish, and whales, the piece reimagines natural movement through generative digital design.
Using AI, custom code, and real-time particle systems, the work transforms underwater motion into shifting meshes of light and colour. The result is a quiet, contemplative space — one that invites reflection on the silent intelligence of natural systems, and how technology can echo their flow.
Launching in Spain from August 2025, the installation is the latest in our series of multisensory works exploring the meeting point between organic life and digital art.
How can digital systems capture the essence of instinctive, collective movement found in nature? Beneath the Swarm set out to visualise swarm behaviour not as a scientific model, but as a sensory meditation — translating the calm, drifting energy of the ocean into a living digital artwork.
The goal was to create a piece that slows its audience down, offering a moment of reflection on both the beauty and fragility of underwater ecosystems.
The project draws from studies of marine life in motion — turtles drifting, jellyfish pulsing, whales sweeping through the dark. Each behaviour was analysed, then reinterpreted into digital form through custom particle systems and dynamic trails in TouchDesigner.
AI-driven algorithms influenced the flow, introducing subtle variations that mimic instinctive decision-making in nature. Movement was designed to feel fluid, collective, and unpredictable — a system that moves like thought, where memory drifts like sediment and reaction moves in waves.
The soundscape reinforces this sense of immersion, blending deep ambient tones with resonances inspired by underwater acoustics.
Beneath the Swarm creates an environment where visitors are enveloped by light, motion, and sound that unfold at the pace of the ocean. Patterns emerge and dissolve, echoing how natural systems adapt and flow under invisible pressures.
The installation offers more than spectacle — it’s a meditation on how we move together without speaking, how intelligence can be collective, and how technology can mirror these submerged forms of thought.
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