Lauren Walker



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Selected Works
     01   Residual Lines
    02  Heat Mapping Entropy
    03  Synthetic Entomology
    04  The Room Holds Its Breath
    05  3D Prototyping + Design


Installation



The Room Holds Its Breath (2025)
Winterwerkschau, WS 2024/25,
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar




The Room Holds Its Breath (2025)

Electronics: NEMA-17 stepper motors, TMC2209 drivers, CO₂ sensor, relays, LEDs
Structure: MDF, PEVA fabric, twine
Components: Candle, metal snuffer

Dimensions:
    Lung (expanded): 74 x 86 x 32 cm
    Motor mount: 72 x 15 x 9 cm

Photo: Darko, February 2025
The Room Holds Its Breath (2025) is an interactive installation inspired by the Berliner Bunker and its use of candlelight in crowded, underground club spaces, exploring the fragile relationship between breath, presence, and collective occupancy. The work consists of a breathing “lung,” a pulsating LED light, a candle, and a motorized snuffer, all responding dynamically to CO₂ levels in the room. As visitors gather, the lung struggles to inhale and exhale, and when CO₂ rises beyond a critical threshold, the system suffocates—halting the lung’s movement and extinguishing the candle until the space empties and the air clears.

The lung is formed from stacked, irregular MDF “ribs” covered with a patterned PEVA fabric skin, creating an organic shape that expands and contracts like a living body. LED bulbs inside indicate both the lung’s breathing cycle and CO₂ thresholds, while a motorized snuffer reacts automatically to rising gas levels. By linking the installation’s behavior directly to audience presence, the piece makes visitors aware of their own breath and effect on the space, echoing the precarious, intimate conditions of the bunker club where candlelight marked both visibility and vulnerability.

Through its combination of mechanical movement, responsive light, and environmental feedback, The Room Holds Its Breath mirrors the vulnerability of shared spaces, demonstrating how collective behavior can shape—and at times overwhelm—the environments we inhabit.






Exhaling lung: both lights are on and moves to the expanded position.
Inhaling Lung: bottom light flickers off and moves to the contracted position


© Lauren Walker,  2026