Soft Presence is a quiet network of shared connection. As you enter, you join an evolving cloudscape shaped by those present. The more people gather, the denser the clouds become — a living atmosphere that reflects collective presence. Fewer participants leave the space calm and open, like a breath held in stillness.
This digital artwork explores the poetics of online presence and the subtle ways we connect across distance. Through small, ambient gestures, Soft Presence symbolizes shared participation in a digital space, inviting a slower, quieter kind of interaction — one without usernames or conversation, but rich in resonance.
It's both an artwork and an atmosphere — a space to reflect on how we exist together, even when apart.
The artwork is a shared, real-time experience. The drifting clouds you see respond to the number of people currently viewing the artwork—more viewers create a denser, more active cloudscape, while fewer create a sparser, quieter visual.
By clicking anywhere on the screen, you can trigger a gentle pulse within the clouds. This action also sends a subtle ripple to all other active viewers, allowing your presence to be felt across the network. These interactions are meant to be quiet gestures—like a breath, a signal, or a shared glance—visualizing connection without conversation.
Soft Presence is a shared, real-time experience. The drifting clouds you see respond to the number of people currently viewing the artwork—more viewers create a denser, more active cloudscape, while fewer create a sparser, quieter visual. By clicking anywhere on the screen, you can trigger a gentle pulse within the clouds. This action also sends a subtle ripple to all other active viewers, allowing your presence to be felt across the network. These interactions are meant to be quiet gestures—like a breath, a signal, or a shared glance—visualizing connection without conversation.
Jordan Shaw is a Toronto-based artist whose work explores the intersection of technology, systems, and the poetics of interaction. His practice blends code, light, and data to create generative and participatory installations that reflect on digital presence and connection.
Soft Presence builds on an earlier version of the work originally created for the Vector Festival 2020, and Inter/Access where the artist collaborated with Rebecca Wilkinson, Emi Takahashi, and Marcelo Luft to visualize anonymous user activity on the festival website during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project has since evolved into a standalone experience, deepening its focus on calm computing and ambient collective interaction.
Soft Presence is built on top of Data Network, a custom pub/sub data platform developed by the artist for new media and interactive arts.
Learn more at: jordanshaw.com // @jshaw3
You’re not alone here.
Right now, X people drift here with you,
from Y places scattered across the world,
all watching this cloudscape unfold.
Together, you've shared Z cloud pulses today,
part of N ripples since our beginning.
The last pulse drifted across the sky
T.
We drift, we echo, we gather —
a quiet presence made visible.