M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow, 2023
A project by the Meditation Ocean Constellation
Six-channel video installation with ambient score, guided meditations, seating, public programming
67 minutes, looped
For M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow, the premiere iteration of Meditation Ocean, a group of eight divers spent four days in Biscayne National Park in the Florida Keys. Experimenting with notions of buoyancy and what they offer to terrestrial concepts of “grounding” in meditative practice–along with new modes of weightless embodiment—the divers rose from the seabed to float in meditation.
This “underwater meditation retreat” was both a live experience and a video production. The resulting footage, captured with three underwater cameras shooting in the round, was used to create the exhibition Meditation Ocean, curated by Jennifer Lange, on view at the Wexner Center for the Arts from February–July 2023.
A series of programs, workshops, and events developed with Dionne Custer Edwards and the Department of Learning & Public Practice accompanied the exhibition. There was also close work with Art & Resilience at the Wex and its incredible student leaders. Additional engagements involve The Ohio State University's Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and the Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetlands Research Park.
A gallery guide features texts by Anaïs Duplan, Hope Ginsburg, Melody Jue, and Jennifer Lange. Read about Meditation Ocean in Artforum. An exhibition Climate Impact Report is shared on Artists Commit.
February 21, 2023: Pages: Art & Writing Engagement, Program for area high school students
"Pages is an innovative multidisciplinary program that supports literacy and writing skills through the exploration of contemporary art, film, and performing arts. This free program pairs educators and artists from the Wexner Center with high school teachers from across central Ohio in the planning of writing-based experiential learning opportunities for students. Pages students visit the center to experience gallery exhibitions, a performance, and a film and respond to those experiences in writing."
Meditation Ocean Constellation Artist/Director Hope Ginsburg visits four Ohio high school classes via Zoom, led by Wexner Center Learning & Public Practice educator Sarah Robison and Ohio Poet Laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour. Over the course of the month, each high school class has a field trip to experience Meditation Ocean at the Wexner Center.
"Explore how meditation connects breath, body, and creativity in this monthlong series programmed by Learning & Public Practice at the Wexner Center in conjunction with Meditation Ocean. Artists and meditation practitioners Hope Ginsburg, Anaïs Duplan, and Cadine Navarro each lead two meditation sessions or 'chapters' that explore breathing and their respective artistic practices. Held virtually or in person, the sessions are designed to facilitate thinking, asking how meditation and breathing techniques can shape our approach to work, our relationship with the environment, and our sense of place in the world."
Hope Ginsburg: Saturday March 4th, Saturday March 11th, 11:00am-12:30pm eastern
Link for more information and to register
"These Breathe chapters offer a dive into mindfulness for both beginning and experienced meditators. Along with Ginsburg, you’ll explore connections between two ecosystems: the far-flung coral reef found in the Meditation Ocean installation (March 4) and a local site, the Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, which we’ll visit as a group on March 11. Intention-setting, inquiry, and exchange are part of each afternoon, along with the invitation to deepen your relationship with our environment through continued meditation practice and engagement."
Anaïs Duplan: Saturday March 18th, Saturday March 25th, 11:00am-12:30pm eastern
Link for more information and to register
"Whether you are a visual artist, writer, musician, or arts worker, your work requires you to channel your inner knowing. But the challenges of being an arts professional often run counter to our ability to really foster our creativity. Through mindfulness practice, Duplan leads the group in two virtual sessions, nurturing our connections with our bodies and our innate sense of imagination."
Cadine Navarro: Saturday April 1st, Saturday April 8th, 11:00am-12:30pm eastern
Link for more information and to register
"Closing out the Breathe series, Cadine Navarro welcomes participants into her immersive installation It Sounds Like Love at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center, where you’ll walk barefoot on its smooth, etched glass images. This guided indoor/outdoor meditative experience will encourage you to develop a different relationship to the sensory world."
March 9, 2023: Artist Talk with Meditation Ocean Constellation members Hope Ginsburg, Jennifer Lange & Alexis McCrimmon, 5:30 pm eastern, Free and open to the public
Link for more information
"Currently on view in our galleries, Meditation Ocean features a six-channel video installation that presents an immersive ocean environment in which meditating scuba divers breathe along with aquatic wildlife. For this special evening, experience the work in the galleries and then go behind the scenes with participating artists and the exhibition’s curator to discover how it was developed, produced, and edited in collaboration with the Wexner Center’s Film/Video Studio. The speakers will illuminate the process, discuss the importance of lifelong learning and inquiry, share in moments of mindfulness, and participate in a Q&A with the audience after the conversation." This event is produced by the Department of Learning & Public Practice at the Wexner Center.
March 28, 2023: Art-Sci Exchange: Meditation Ocean and Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Invitation-only program
"This program invites learners of all kinds, including educators, scientists, museum workers, and artists to consider how we may connect with and learn from the earth and from each other through experiential explorations of both art and science. At the center of this experience is an opportunity for artists, educators, and scientists to explore a shared interest in climate science research."
March 29, 2023: Expanded Classroom: A Dialogue with Meditation Ocean and Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Program for area high school students
"Science and art come together to consider the impact and possible solutions to climate change across the globe in this Expanded Classroom program. At the Wex, dive into Meditation Ocean with artist Hope Ginsburg to explore the possibilities of art and mindfulness to inspire individual and social change. At Byrd Polar Climate Research Center, take a trip to the polar regions to unearth what science tells us about the future of our climate. Together with a partner school, students will convene over lunch to talk about their experience and consider the ways that art and science intertwine to address the climate crisis."
March 30, 2023: Artist Talk with Meditation Ocean Constellation Artist/Director Hope Ginsburg, 2:00-4:00 pm eastern, Free and open to the public
Link for more information
Artist Talk sponsored by the Humanities Institute Living Art Eco Lab Working Group (2-3 pm) followed by a Visioning Series session (3-4 pm) with interested participants, including the working group.
"Join us in welcoming Hope Ginsburg, artist in residence at the Wexner Center for the Arts, as she shares a presentation of her work. Ginsburg is an interdisciplinary, project-based artist whose work addresses climate justice and environmental healing. Her work has been shown at major national venues, including MoMA PS1, USF Contemporary Art Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, and many others. She is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, and her work, Meditation Ocean, is currently on exhibit at the Wex.
This event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be provided. If you require accommodations to attend this event, including the need to attend virtually, please send your request to art@osu.edu."
April 20, 2023: Director's Dialogue on Art & Social Change, 6:00 pm eastern, Free and open to the public
Link for more information
Join artists Hope Ginsburg, Cadine Navarro, and Anaïs Duplan for this year’s Director’s Dialogue—the culmination of our new meditation series, Breathe. Programmed in conjunction with the exhibition Meditation Ocean, our featured artists each led two meditation sessions connecting breath, body, environment, and creativity. The artists will gather in our Film/Video Theater to reflect on the series and the ways meditation and breathing techniques influence their respective artistic practices and connect them to the earth. The conversation is moderated by Dora Kamau, a meditation artist and teacher for the Headspace app. A Q&A with the artists follows the talk."