Proxmity triggered sculptures that then trigger other sculptures

Hi all.
Newby here. First let me start off by saying I have no programming capabilities.

I am looking to create a sculpture (lets call it a large rock for now). The rock would be placed outside. As someone walks towards the rock its begins to glow, increasing its intensity and brightness the closer they get to the object and decreasing as they walk away from it. When the light reaches full brightness, it sends a signal to another rock several metres away that would gently pulse. which sends another signal to a third rock with a weaker pulse again.

So I create an effect like this : . o O o .

I also want the rock to react to touch, so that if the rock is touched it changes colour. this again would provoke a reaction in other surrounding rocks.

I am hoping to have all of this tech inside one rock, that can be duplicated (ie 10 of the same rocks would all work the same), and proximity could be controlled.

Now, the big question is, is this doable via arduino? And is there anyone out there interested in developing it for me?
I am located in Geelong/Melbourne Australia.

Jason.

hail:
Now, the big question is, is this doable via arduino?

I can't think of any reason why it would not work.

you might want to invest the boids algorithm - see flying robots flocking like birds outdoors - #2 by robtillaart - Bar Sport - Arduino Forum - for some ref.

Thanks rob.
Great example.
I was thinking more like this

Someone suggested sing a theremin type circuit to detect proximity. I'm looking into tat but not sure how to get a large radius.

@coding badly. Thanks that feedback was invaluable.

you could use an accelerometer as vibration sensor - Accelerometers - SparkFun Electronics -
and activate whatever at a certain threshold.

You can build them into the floor to detect footsteps ...

Nice link by the way, that's in Almere near Amsterdam!