Submissions | VizChitra 2026
Coral Dreams
Rama Krushna
Senior Product Designer•Razorpay
Description
Coral Dreams is an interactive data-driven installation that allows visitors to explore how coral reef ecosystems respond to environmental change. Using hand gestures, participants can switch between coral species and manipulate two key variables - ocean temperature and water pollution, to observe how these factors affect coral growth, bleaching, fragmentation, and recovery.
Visitors would stand before a projection of a living reef. One hand controls temperature, the other pollution levels. As values shift, the reef visibly transforms in real time: vibrant branching corals bleach under thermal stress, soft corals retract in polluted waters, growth rates slow, and biodiversity declines. When conditions improve, recovery processes emerge.
Data is not used as visual ornamentation; it drives the underlying biological rules of the system. Real climate and oceanographic datasets inform thresholds, bleaching probabilities, growth curves, and mortality rates. The reef behaves according to ecological models derived from scientific research.
The core question of the work is: How do invisible environmental changes accumulate into irreversible ecological loss? By allowing visitors to directly “stress” the reef, the piece reframes climate change and pollution as embodied decisions rather than distant statistics.
Situated within the context of global coral reef decline - including reefs in the Indian Ocean and Andaman region, the work connects planetary systems to local ecological futures.
Coral Dreams aligns with the theme of Data, Otherwise by transforming scientific datasets into an experiential ecosystem where data becomes a living, responsive organism rather than a static visualization.
Data Source
The installation uses real environmental and ecological datasets related to coral reef health. These include:
- Sea surface temperature anomalies (NOAA Coral Reef Watch)
- Ocean pollution indicators and nutrient loading datasets
- Coral bleaching threshold data
- Coral growth and mortality rates from marine research studies
- Species-specific resilience and recovery data
These datasets define the mapping between temperature/pollution inputs and coral behaviors such as bleaching probability, growth rate, structural degradation, and recovery capacity.
Climate and reef datasets will be sourced from publicly available scientific databases (NOAA, NASA Earth Observatory, UNEP, ReefBase archives, peer-reviewed marine biology research). Data will be cleaned and translated into parametric ecological rules that drive the generative system in real time.
Rather than simulating arbitrary effects, the reef’s transformation is constrained by real environmental thresholds and documented biological responses.
Technical Requirements
- 1 projector or large LED display
- Projection surface approx. 10–15 ft wide (adaptable to space)
- 1 dedicated power source
- 1 webcam
- 1 table for computer setup
- Controlled lighting (dimmed environment preferred for immersion)
- Stereo speakers or small PA system for ambient sound
The system runs on a laptop
No internet connection is required during exhibition (data is pre-integrated).
Installation time: approximately 1-2 hours including calibration of projection and gesture tracking.
The work can adapt to different spatial scales and does not require structural modifications.
Project Status & Timeline
Coral Dreams is currently in active development. The gesture-control framework and generative coral prototypes have been tested in TouchDesigner. Environmental datasets and ecological mappings are being integrated into the system.
The project is feasible within the exhibition timeline. A fully functional beta version can be completed within 2–4 weeks, followed by refinement, data calibration, and sound integration.
All technical components (projection-based setup with gesture tracking) use established workflows and tools I have previously worked with. The system does not rely on custom hardware fabrication, reducing production risk.
I confirm that the work can be completed, tested, and installed within the exhibition schedule.