The Living Shore

This 360-degree interactive installation focuses on the warming seas transforming Maharashtra’s coastal ecosystems. Combining photographs by local wildlife photographer Sarang Naik with custom software and physics simulations, new media artist Lake Heckaman creates an environment where warming currents, Mumbai’s landscape, and the biodiversity of its shoreline come alive and respond to each viewer.

What begins as joyful interaction slowly reveals its consequences. Gestures push fluid currents, break and rebuild the cityscape, and dissolve tidepool life, reflecting rising heat, declining oxygen, and the loss of habitat. A soundscape built from underwater field recordings moves through the room like a living presence, carrying the hidden pulse of the coast.

Together, these layers form a living portrait of a littoral zone shaped by people, the warming ocean, and the delicate life suspended between them. The installation offers a quiet reminder that every action we take is connected to the future we share.

Comissioned by Godrej Design Lab for their annual climate change focused symposium Conscious Collective held in Mumbai, India from December 11 to 15th 2025.

The audio moves in parallel with the visuals. It isn’t written like music. The composition is built as a procedural environment: something alive, drifting, and responsive. It echoes the hidden systems of Mumbai’s tidepools and holds the quiet tension of ecosystems that are intricate and under pressure.

All sounds come from real field recordings with hydrophones and contact mics, or are created procedurally. They capture vibrations and movements we don’t usually hear, revealing a layer of the shoreline just below perception. Some textures feel familiar, others feel strangely new. Together they open a microscopic dimension that mirrors the installation’s visual scale shifts.

As the scene destabilizes, the sound does too. Tones thin, structures unravel, harmonics bleach or swarm. The audio responds to the viewer’s presence and reinforces the idea that observation and disruption are linked. Because the system never loops, it behaves like a living ecosystem in slow, continuous change and makes its fragility felt.