‘Pulse Canopy’ is a matrix of light that hovers above a circular interactive arena with a 30-metre diameter, installed in the historic Al Wajidi Fort area in Al Ain, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The piece is composed of 51 powerful robotic spotlights that react to visitors’ heartbeats. By default, the work forms a modulating pattern in the sky inspired by Emirati basket weaving, but when a visitor places their hand beneath one of three sensors, their pulse is detected and 17 lights automatically form an apex in mid-air, glimmering to the rhythm of the biometric recording. The installation also plays back the heartbeat sounds through three powerful subwoofers.

‘Translation Stream’. Poems by contemporary Emirati poets Nujoom Alghanem, Khalid Albudoor, and Adel Khozam are presented as a slow stream of letters, which are projected across a long stretch of trail. The letters meander down the island trail, inviting the public to follow them. As people walk, their detected presence automatically translates the poems between English and Arabic and vice versa. The stream of language is controlled by fluid dynamic equations, which ensure that the flow pattern is always unique. Poetry is the most challenging form of writing for translation – the reading here becomes an embodied path, with languages seamlessly morphing between one and another through each individual interaction.