Rebloom: translating research through multimodal interaction between social and felt worlds
Self-harm among young women is increasing globally, yet many do not disclose their distress, leaving families and communities unsure how to respond. Research shows that small, attuned gestures of presence and connection are often the most meaningful forms of support. ReBloom, an immersive interactive installation, was co-created to translate these insights into a publicly accessible, multimodal encounter. Created through collaboration among mental health researchers, creative technologists, artists, and 27 young women with lived experience of self-harm, the project translated research evidence into a publicly accessible encounter designed for embodied, sensory, and relational engagement. Using gesture-responsive interaction, motion capture, color transitions, sound, and narrative movement, ReBloom enabled participants to enact metaphors of attunement, emotional openness, and care. Installed in a large metropolitan shopping center, the work engaged diverse publics across ages and cultural backgrounds, generating forms of interaction ranging from playful exploration to reflective and emotionally resonant encounters. Ethnographic observation and thematic evaluation revealed that participants intuitively recognized the emotional arc of the work and frequently linked the experience to their own understandings of support, empathy, and mental health. The installation also surfaced important paradoxes in public engagement, including the tension between visibility and the desire for more private, cocoon-like spaces for reflection. This case study demonstrates how immersive, distributed storytelling can function as a powerful mode of arts-based knowledge translation, offering new pathways for communicating sensitive mental-health research in accessible, non-stigmatizing, and emotionally meaningful ways.