Resting Roots is an interactive public art installation in Singapore’s Bras Basah-Bugis precinct, featuring three 3D-printed root pods that create places to sit and pause. A MIDI-controlled, audio-reactive system built in TouchDesigner drives the installation’s sound and RGB LED lighting, while illuminated books extend the experience into the surrounding space and connect it to the precinct’s craft traditions, stories, and shared histories.
Audio-reactive Lighting
TouchDesigner processed live audio and MIDI input to control an LED installation. Sustained audio set the ambient light level, while beats and sudden changes triggered pulses that moved through the LED structure and left fading trails. An RGB palette controlled the colour output.
MIDI-controlled
The patch also functioned as an audiovisual instrument. MIDI controls adjusted playback speed, trail movement, audio filtering, colour and inversion. Note triggers played musical samples and activated corresponding light events. TouchDesigner converted the output into RGB values for each LED, previewed the layout as a radial branch structure, and sent the data to an Arduino-controlled addressable LED strip.