Sensing the heat, 2026

What does a heatwave look like to a satellite, a plant, or a human body?

Plants emit a faint fluorescence during photosynthesis, imperceptible to the unaided human eye. Changes in this signal can reveal environmental stress. The European Space Agency’s FLEX mission, designed to observe this fluorescence in tandem with Copernicus Sentinel-3, inspired Sensing the Heat.

The installation connects satellite observations of land surface temperature in Guéra, Chad, with pearl millet, a crop adapted to heat and drought. Uranium-glass sculptures, a digital plant, textual displays and a touchable thermal interface translate Sentinel-3 measurements into light, language and bodily sensation.

Bringing orbital observation into proximity with local environmental knowledge and human perception, the work asks how different ways of sensing shape understanding of heat.

Developed through the S+T+ARTS Ec(h)o residency at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), Vienna.