A Touring Interactive Installation

The Community Garden

What you water thrives

A touchable environment about systems that govern our lives.

The Tree House, held aloft by clouds on strings

What it is

The Community Garden playfully represents the systems that empower (or disempower) our communities.

We do this with interactive art that's 90% fun with an opportunity to engage more deeply. At the center of the exhibit is a house, representing the individuals and families that make up a community. Surrounding it are whimsical interpretations of some of the major things affecting our lives: health care, the media, finance, utilities, politics, transportation...all represented as the living garden of our communities.

A garden that needs regular care and tending in order to thrive.

The Four Elements

Concept art of the full Community Garden, flower beds in view

Flower Beds

I see you.

A field of mirrored flowers that turn to reflect you back at you.

The Tree House at its festival debut

Tree House

What is this?

It takes a village to raise a house. This one is made of many people's sense of community.

Playing the Pipes at its festival debut

Playing the Pipes

Musical plumbing.

A tangle of valves and switches that lets you steer a living music system.

Funding CAPTCHA at its festival debut

Funding CAPTCHA

Prove your humanity.

Make shapes with your body to prove you're human, until your efforts are futile.

Where it's been

The Community Garden made its debut at Connect Beyond Festival, May 29–31, 2026. Its first three days of being walked through, watched, and played.

Now touring and looking for its next home.

Book the Garden

Bringing it to a festival, venue, or gathering? The Community Garden travels. Tell us about your event or space and we'll take it from there.

booking@impracticalinstruments.com