Dance with Flowers

Alec Hembree & Michael Zhou

Madison, WI

Synchronizing the movement of people and nature, “Dance with Flowers” encourages people to bring their own movement to life through a vivid and shifting field of colorful flowers. Dance, jump, move in different ways, and watch as you illuminate patterns of various flower species “dancing” alongside you. Then watch from the path as friends, family, and neighbors become a synchronous part of a unique and harmonious movement.

Pro Tip

Join the queue to interact with the installation and show off your dance moves. Don’t want to wait? Feel free to continue down the pathway and cheer on others!

Inside the Installation

Materials: acrylic, resin, LED chips, speakers, rubber mats

  1. Dance with Flowers originated in between the realm of virtual reality video games and real-life movement arts. We challenged ourselves to develop the surface we most often take for granted – the earth – into both a performative, interactive arena and a nature-centric, free-flowing space.

  2. The five flower forms are inspired by Wisconsin native plants – Wood lily, Lilium philadelphicum var. andinum, Bottle gentian, Gentiana andrewsii, ghost pipe, Monotropa uniflora, eastern purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea and prairie blazing star, Liatris pycnostachya var. pycnostachya

  3. Look closely and you’ll also find local prairie-style architectural embellishments on the petals and bulbs.

  4. More than 1,500 individually wired colored LED chips illuminate the precision laser-cut acrylic petals, bulbs, and stems.

Artist Bios

Alec Hembree

Alec Hembree is an architect with a keen interest in the influence of design on human movement. He believes the built environment has a responsibility to physically engage the body’s senses and keep people active in mind, body, and spirit. Alec has also designed and constructed several unique types of human powered land- and water- craft, as well as movement and sensory inspired installations. When not designing, Alec enjoys various outdoor athletic hobbies in the Madison area.

Michael Zhou

Michael Zhou, currently an architecture design specialist, has always had an interest in exploring his artistic side. Often exploring art’s digital side through 3D renderings, he had an opportunity to explore the physical side with the Spectroplexus installation in St. Louis during graduate school. This sculpture was designed to show the confluence of people when travelling, and Michael has been captivated by this type of physical art ever since. Outside of designing, Michael enjoys hobbies such as photography and rapid prototyping projects, such as 3d printing.