Touching Grass, A Digitally Physical Experience

Touching Grass, A Digitally Physical Experience, transforms the internet slang phrase into an immersive installation that explores the boundaries between digital and natural perception. Joshua Higgason creates a multisensory environment within MIT’s W97 Blackbox Theater that challenges how we experience reality through both physical touch and augmented digital interaction.

The installation combines photogrammetric scans of plants and natural objects into a 3D environment projected onto four walls, the floor, and the ceiling of a cubic interaction space. Visitors remove their shoes to wade through a three-inch pool and walk on living grass turf surrounded by aromatic plants, while augmented reality glasses overlay additional digital elements onto the physical environment. This layered experience deliberately blurs the divide between somatosensory and visual perception, questioning where the natural ends and the digital begins.

Higgason collaborates with animators and AR developers Supreetha Krishnan and Orsolya Szánthó, along with AV assistant Matthew Tennie, to create what he describes as “a kind of funhouse mirror of the natural and digital visual representations.” The project advances his research into how digital technologies can enhance live performance and augment physical materials, while addressing research findings that report how experiencing awe in nature reduces anxiety.

By inviting participants to literally touch grass while simultaneously engaging with augmented content, the installation offers a playful yet profound meditation on our increasingly digital lives and our fundamental need for physical connection to the natural world.

Joshua Higgason is a video, lighting, scenic, and interactive designer for theater, opera, concerts, and live performances. He started working in experimental theater and art with some groundbreaking companies, and has continued developing into a unique voice in the world of immersive media-driven experiences. He currently teaches Performance Media, Interactive Design for Live Performance, and Lighting Design at MIT.  

Biography: MIT Theater Arts
Website: joshuahiggason.net 

Supreetha Krishnan is a multimedia designer working in interactive installation, XR, and live visuals. She designs visuals for live music events, exploring how to include audience participation and co-creation. With a background in product design, she has previously worked with the MIT Climate Machine to design XR installations of different scales for music festivals and a large-scale projection mapping of the new Music Building at MIT.

Biography: Art, Culture and Technology at MIT

Orsolya Szánthó is a London-based Hungarian multidisciplinary artist working across filmmaking, live performance, and interactive design. 

Website: orsolyaszantho.com 

Matthew Tennie makes socially and culturally transformative experiences that create meaningful relationships between people and technology using media, interaction, and narrative.

Website: matthewtennie.com
Social: Facebook | Instagram

Lead Artist: Joshua Higgason

Animator/AR Developer: Supreetha Krishnan

AR Developer: Orsolya Szánthó

AV Assistant: Matthew Tennie