Ocean X Singapore Interactive Museum Installations by Leds Akimbo

Museum technology works best when visitors forget about the technology and start following their curiosity. For the Ocean X exhibition in Singapore, Leds Akimbo built a series of interactive installations designed to do exactly that, turning ocean science, underwater life and seabed regeneration into experiences people could touch, trigger and inhabit.

Working alongside Studio Giggle, we created several connected systems for the exhibition. Each one used a different mode of interaction, from a clue-led touchscreen quiz to a projection mapped seagrass room and an immersive 3D particle scene. The brief was simple: make the ocean feel present, responsive and discoverable.

The clue-led 'EDNA' quiz turned learning into discovery

One of the systems Leds Akimbo created for the Ocean X exhibition was an interactive touchscreen quiz. The design encouraged visitors to drag and drop multiple choice options after reading clues to deduce the correct answer.

A secondary system, also running in Touch Designer, then projected visuals of the underwater animals visitors had discovered. This gave the quiz a visible payoff beyond the touchscreen itself. Once the visitor solved the question, the animal moved out into the physical exhibition space through projection.

Touch Designer was a natural fit for this kind of real-time media layer. It can handle interface logic, video playback, generative visuals and communication between systems.

The seagrass room made restoration tangible

Another installation focused on seabed regeneration through the planting of seagrass on the ocean floor. Rather than explain that work through linear video, Leds Akimbo built the backend system that then used a projection mapped room where visitors could touch the walls and interact with seagrass nets dropping from the surface.

The installation translated an environmental process into a simple gesture. Visitors touched the walls to plant the nets. As they interacted, the seagrass responded, landed and became part of the projected seabed.

The team used LiDAR sensors for the touch element. In a projection mapped environment, this approach can be useful because it allows the system to detect interaction across a surface without needing a conventional touchscreen. That matters when the “screen” is a wall, a room, or a mapped set piece rather than a flat display.

Touch Designer handled the state machine, the interaction logic and the rendering of the seagrass as it was touched and landed.

DataXplorer invited visitors to become the ocean

Another major system was DataXplorer, a 3D scene created and rendered in Notch, with Touch Designer running the block and logic systems. In this installation, visitors stood in front of the projection and “became the ocean”, generating and interacting with particles that took their form.

This installation uses the body as the interface. The visitor steps into position, sees the particles respond and understands that their presence is shaping the scene.

The phrase “became the ocean” is a useful way to describe the experience. The visitor was not controlling a cursor or pressing a button. Their silhouette and movement became part of a digital underwater system. Particles formed around them, moved with them and created a living connection between person and projection.

Notch was used for the 3D scene and rendering. Its strength in real-time visual work made it suitable for particle-driven content and responsive projected environments. Touch Designer handled the block and logic systems, supporting the wider behaviour of the installation and connecting the moving parts behind the scenes.

Touch Designer and Notch helped connect logic, sensors and real-time visuals

Across the installations, Leds Akimbo used Touch Designer as a core tool for logic, state handling and real-time control. Notch supported the rendered 3D scene in DataXplorer. LiDAR sensors brought touch into the projection mapped seagrass room.

For Leds Akimbo, the Ocean X exhibition brought together technical systems and educational storytelling in a way that felt physical and immediate. Working alongside giggle, the team built experiences that used real-time tools not for spectacle alone, but to help visitors connect with ocean life and restoration.

The takeaway is clear: when interactive media supports the subject, it can make museum learning feel less like receiving information and more like taking part. For an exhibition about the ocean, that sense of participation is exactly what makes the experience stay with people after they leave the room.