Cut Deep Enough

2026 · Interactive, WebGL, sound

The stone floor of a dark room, seen from above, with two lines cut into it. A day passes in two minutes, and the rain fills the letters.

Runs in the browser, on a phone too. Sound starts at your first click.

Enter the work

Morning: a blade of light across the dark stone floor, the cut words CUT DEEP ENOUGH TO HOLD THE RAIN half lit

Year: 2026
Medium: Custom software (WebGL, three shaders), sound synthesised in the browser
Dimensions: Variable; the whole browser window
Duration: A day lasts two minutes, then begins again
Interaction: Move the pointer to move the light; left alone, the light walks through the day by itselfPress and rub to scrape the lichen from the lettersClick to let a drop fall; the first click turns the sound onOn touch: drag to move the light and scrape, tap for a drop
Credits: Commissioned by Kyle XuType: Cormorant Garamond, by Christian Thalmann

Statement

A piece written in code: the bluestone floor of a dark room, seen from directly above. Two lines are cut into the floor, and a blade of light falling from an opening above reads them. Rain comes in through the opening and runs across the floor into the letters, and the words turn to water. Lichen grows slowly in the cuts; wipe it away by hand and it comes back. A day is pressed into two minutes.

Morning light falls across the words for the first ten seconds, then the rain comes. It clears, and the letters hold water that mirrors the sky. The afternoon dries them; in the evening the light reaches the crack in the slab and the iron cramp that mends it; a short night, and morning again. The lichen keeps a slower clock, measured in minutes.

Rain on the dark stone floor: a bright splash where drops land at a joint, the cut words beginning to fill with water

After the rain: the cut words full of water and shining, an ellipse of light falling across the floor

Cut deep enough to hold the rain.

Runs in the browser, on a phone too. Sound starts at your first click.

Enter the work