The Unspoken is an immersive experience where the line between animation and art installation blurs. In this video and sound installation, humanoid figures writhe and transform their bodies bound in a continual dance of adaptation and resilience against the backdrop of everchanging stimuli surrounding them. Inspired by my family’s experience as caregivers to my father after a major stroke left him with aphasia, this work challenges viewers to ponder the nature of existence and the expansiveness of human potential in the face of an ever evolving world. All sound design, animation, and editing by Leah Smithson. Run Time 6m21s.
As Los Angeles emerged from the isolation of quarantine and the unrest of the past years, LUMINEX 2.0 transformed downtown into a site of reconnection through large-scale projection mapping, augmented reality (AR), and interactive installations. The event reimagined the city as an open-air digital gallery, bringing communities together to experience art in public space after a period of separation.
Our installation responded to this moment of transition—figures emerged and dissolved, pressing against invisible thresholds, reaching beyond the screen as if attempting to cross back into the world. Their movements traced the evolution of human innovation, from early tools that extended our reach to the digital architectures that now mediate our perception of self and one another.
Using AR and projection mapping, we created a multi-layered digital intervention that invited audiences to consider the unseen forces—technological, social, and organic—that shape their environment. LUMINEX 2.0 provided a platform to experiment with light-based and XR technologies at an urban scale, reinforcing our inquiry into hidden circulatory systems and their role in human and ecological networks. At La Becque, we seek to build on this approach, shifting from urban surfaces to natural landscapes, making visible the unseen flows that sustain both human and non-human life. Animation and editing by Leah Smithson. Music for the trailer