A project by the Meditation Ocean Constellation

Two-channel video installation with ambient scores, aquanaut interviews, seating, public programming

Channel 1: 26 minutes

Channel 2: 32 minutes 31 seconds, looped

M.O. Aquarius Reef Base invites viewers to experience Aquarius Reef Base, the singular habitat for living and working underwater. This M.O. iteration speculates about a residential underwater meditation retreat's potential to activate connections to the ocean, its wildlife, and each other. The Aquarius staff, who make every mission possible, perch contemplatively on their seabed home, which has become a living part of the Florida Keys reef. In audio interviews, the “aquanauts” speak to the relationship between awe experiences in nature and empathy for humans and other species.

Currently on view in the exhibition "Meditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef Base" at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, curated by Megan Dickerson, the show includes a simulation of Aquarius Reef Base, stories collected from Scripps researcher-aquanauts, a timeline of subsea habitats past and future, and artifacts from Sealab II. Meditation Reels from M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow, a three-channel video with five guided meditations, offers an additional opportunity to breathe with the reef.

M.O. Aquarius Reef Base is the second project in the Meditation Ocean (2023–ongoing) series. "M.O." works toward human and more-than-human thriving through oceanic meditations and responsive terrestrial actions. An accessible “indoor ocean,” M.O. is equal parts video installation and platform for public programming. The project proposes the interdependence of individual and communal well-being, the deep connection between humans and kindred species and the nonduality of the social and the environmental.

Click here to listen to aquanauts meditate on life underwater. Follow us on Instagram at @meditation_ocean.

A trailer and installation views are coming soon to accompany the video stills below.