Liquid Tiles

Tiles speak — if you learn to listen. Liquid Tiles transforms traditional ceramic patterns into a living, interactive landscape of sound and color. Inspired by the local maiolica of Ustica and the voices of its people, the installation blends geometry and memory, technology and tradition. Each tile reacts to sound: marine recordings, winds, footsteps, and above all, the voice of Signora Maria — an islander whose words about the sea ripple across the screen like waves. The work centers the relationship between humans and the ocean through sensorial storytelling. A daughter, granddaughter, and sister of fishermen, Maria’s testimony embodies an ancestral connection to the sea — a bond made of nourishment, danger, rhythm, and respect. These narratives, transformed into digital symmetries, speak of coexistence and interdependence. By animating ceramic patterns with real oceanic and environmental soundscapes, the installation becomes a poetic meditation on the idea that landscapes are also archives. Liquid Tiles invites viewers to feel the sea through the textures of the land, and to remember that caring for the ocean begins with listening — to stories, to silence, to each other.