Walk into a Fragmented Forest | Entangled Ecosystems Showcase
What happens when the invisible rules that sustain an ecosystem are broken?
A forest is an entangled ecosystem governed by invisible ecological rules that sustain its diversity. Networks of fungi and insects ensure no single species becomes dominant. When forests fragment, this regulation quietly collapses—the trees remain but the system does not.
Built from four years of ecological research at the Kadamane rainforest bordering a tea estate in Karnataka, this installation runs on real field data. Each module embodies a living species: its chemistry expressed through colour, its survival through rhythm, and its death an ecological event. Move between the vibrant interior and the subdued monotony of its edges where the mechanisms that sustain diversity begin to unravel.
Medium: Immersive multimedia installation, Acrylic casing, Generative code system, LED floor panels, Red soil, Two-channel spatial audio
Year: 2026
Dates: 18 April - 17 September 2026
Collaborator: Meghna Krishnadas
The exhibition opens with a public programme on 18 April at 5:00 PM, featuring a walkthrough of the installation and conversations with exhibiting artists Shreni Sanghvi and Abhishek Kapahi, Jahnavi Phalkey, Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru and Ecologist Meghna Krishnadas. The programme will also include reflections on the role of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing ecological challenges.
About Entangled Ecosystems
Instituted by Science Gallery Bengaluru in collaboration with Shared Ecologies, supported by the Shyama Foundation, Entangled Ecosystems is an annual grant that fosters artists and researchers engaging with ecological questions at the intersection of art and science.
About the Artists
Shreni Sanghvi
Shreni is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores memory, impermanence, and ecology. Through installations that weave light, sound, and narrative, she reimagines our relationship with the natural world and fragile futures.
Abhishek Kapahi
Abhishek Kapahi is a creative technologist and new media artist whose practice bridges digital and physical worlds. He creates interactive experiences that transform code into poetic encounters, inviting audiences to engage with technology in unexpected ways.
About the Ecologist
Meghna Krishnadas
Meghna Krishnadas is an ecologist investigating the mechanisms that maintain diversity in ecosystems. She previously worked as a physician working for people living in and around forests. Her transition to ecology began with the realisation that biodiversity was being lost at alarming rates. As an activist and scientist, Krishnadas is driven by intellectual curiosity about the complexity of life around us.
Shared Ecologies is a program by the Shyama Foundation supporting initiatives at the intersection of art and ecology – through critical, creative, aesthetic approaches, and collaborations with various disciplines and knowledge systems. Through grants, programmes, and conversations, we aim to facilitate a regional and international ecology of individuals, practitioners and institutions, who share overlapping concerns, philosophies and methodologies.