The Rhizosphere is a tourable immersive venue and sensory art installation dedicated to celebrating ecological relationships within soil and exploring human relationships to land. The space evolves as collaborators come and go, but at its root is a collective of individuals that together form more than the sum of their parts. Interwoven into the fabric of The Rhizosphere are sensors that detect human activity below, in turn influencing audio-visual installations that make up the venue: sculpted mycelial light, spotlights on roots and mycorrhizae, and projections of microbes that call soil their home. Within the walls of the space, depth sensors capture the hands and faces of humans as they explore and discover life amongst the soil with kinetic and kaleidoscopic delights.

Bailes+Light bring immersive lighting design, interactives and sensory technology, and other bespoke design elements to The Rhizosphere collective. It plays host to Underfoot, a perception-shifting XR sensory audio installation that invites participants to imagine what it is to live amongst the soil.

The Rhizosphere debuted at Glastonbury Festival in 2023 in the Greenpeace field. It was home to ecological exhibits, interactive soil and foraging workshops, and sessions on land justice and reparative justice. It also provided a dedicated space for BIPOC folk. You can hear its creators Poppy Flint & Benji Bailes in conversation with Cerys Matthews on BBC 6 Music at Glastonbury Festival. The Rhizosphere returned to Glastonbury Festival in 2025 in Shangri-La as part of their new theme: The Wilding. Two adaptions were an interactive bio-sonification soundscape and an immersive journey that gave participants the opportunity to connect with Glastonbury clay, dug from the festival site beneath Shangri-La.