Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is opening a new exhibition and meditation experience inspired by the Aquarius Reef Base next month.
Meditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef Base opens on 20 November at Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, California.
It is described as a multi-sensory art and science installation that reimagines the Aquarius Reef Base — the world’s only undersea research habitat — as a meditation space inspired by life beneath the ocean.
The exhibition was created by artist Hope Ginsburg and the Meditation Ocean Constellation, a collaborative group of artists, writers, educators, meditators, musicians, curators, divers and scientists.
Per a press release, guests will step through a portal into the underwater research station where they will see projections filmed at the original platform and experience simulated underwater spaces.
As visitors explore the space, they will enjoy ambient reef sounds and designs that prompt them to reflect on their connection to the ocean.
Meditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef Base
The exhibition also includes a three-channel video installation titled Meditation Reels from M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow, shot over four days in Biscayne National Park in the Florida Keys by the Meditation Ocean Constellation.
The work captures eight meditating scuba divers as they "breathe with" ocean wildlife. Prerecorded scripts will allow visitors to join the divers in meditative practice within the installation.
“Aquarius Reef Base stands on the shoulders of audacious experiments like the Navy’s SEALAB and Jacques Cousteau’s Conshelf, when humans first tested the idea of living for days or weeks beneath the surface of the ocean,” said Megan Dickerson, director of exhibits at the aquarium.
“Today, as our ocean and our world face unprecedented change, Meditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef Base invites us to return to that boldness, this time to cultivate resilience, presence and a deeper connection to the changing life around us.”
Meditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef Base is included with general admission to Birch Aquarium.
Images courtesy of Birch Aquarium
