"In Norway it’s kind of hard not to be involved in the oil economy," says Bjørn Gunnar Staal, a lead designer at Scandinavian Design Group. When drillers discovered an abundance of oil on the Norwegian continental shelf in 1969, it sparked an economic boom that's lasted well into this century. Over the years the government has re-invested wealth from petroleum back into the energy sector, into a massive welfare program, and, notably, into subsidies for young architects and designers. That’s now coming full circle, as Scandinavian Design Group, one of Norway’s oldest graphic design studios, has just created an interactive installation for Norway’s branch of Lundin Petroleum, Sweden’s largest oil company.

The installation went live at a Scandinavian energy conference. But when Lundin asked Scandinavian Design Group for a proposal for their booth, Staal proposed something that actually isn’t a booth at all: An undulating ceiling of honey-colored tubes that would rhythmically move in response to the visitors walking underneath. They're calling it Breaking the Surface.

"We looked at totally different fields like art and architecture, to make something that’s an experience, instead of just seeing huge slogans and the big logo,” says Staal, who took inspiration from Random International's MoMA Rain Room exhibit from last summer, the spatial works of artist Olafur Eliasson, and Marshmallow Laser Feast.

Lundin is known for its high-tech, high-yield explorations, so before finalizing their concept Staal and his team spent a few days looking at the tools that power the company's work. To analyze the seafloor, their geologists create computer-generated 3-D models of sections of the continental shelf, and the different strata and gravel. As the seismic investigation continues, those models are constantly being updated. The amber acrylic pipes that Scandinavian Design Group are installing, stalactic-style, are an abstraction of those ever-changing models.

To set the pipes in motion, visitors just walk underneath them. Underneath the 13-by-13 foot floorboards are capacitive sensors that track footsteps. That information, combined with data gleaned from four Microsoft Kinect sensors at the installation’s corners, determines which pipes should move up, and when. The piece can handle up to ten people at once, but Staal says it’s optimized for two people, when fewer pipes are being retracted. The effect is meant to mimic the generative movement of the ocean, as well as Lundin’s approach to exploration: “It’s very technical, but their geology department is very open minded in how they approach their exploration operations.” Staal says. “The leader of their exploration department is like a philosopher.”

Breaking the Surface was created with help from robotics engineer James A. Fox and Abida, Kontur/Ctrl+n, Intek Engineering, and Pivot Product Design. After the conference, it will become a permanent fixture in Lundin Norway's offices.