A project by the Meditation Ocean Constellation

Six-channel video installation with ambient score, guided meditations, seating, public programming

67 minutes, looped

Meditation Ocean works toward climate justice through oceanic meditation and responsive terrestrial action. 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 more-than-humans, and the nonduality of the social and the environmental.

In M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow, the premiere iteration of the project, 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.

Meditation Ocean launched with an exhibition at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, from February to July 2023. The project’s oceanscape catalyzed a series of workshops, events, and programming connected to local issues, which you can read more about at the "Programs" link here.

Meditation Ocean is supported by the Wexner Center for the Arts Film/Video Studio Program and Artist Residency Award in Film/Video.

Read about Meditation Ocean in Artforum and the exhibition's Gallery Guide. Follow us on Instagram at @meditation_ocean. The M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow score is now an album; you can listen here. A Climate Impact Report for the Meditation Ocean exhibition is shared on Artists Commit.