Archive illustration, 2017 · VR still
Ocean and climate · 3 min read
What the ocean has done since SEAing Breath
A changing annual waterline, a warming ocean and the importance of reading observations across different timescales.
VR still · inside the work
2017–2018 · Immersive VR artwork · Breath biofeedback · Miami
SEAing
Breath
Hannes Bend · Maria Mishurenko · Gordey Chernyy
From the 2017 archive — three ways in
Notebook · 25 April 2017The storyboardBlue-ink frames: a beach, a seashell, a city going under, a crab that asks you to breathe.Process and development log →- VR still · June 2017Under waterLight from the surface, a fish, the gauge at the edge of vision. The trailer and the archive films.Watch the trailer and films →
Poster · June 2017On the wallThe original poster for the Miami Center for Architecture & Design presentation.Exhibitions and ephemera →
00 — The work
A visitor puts on a breath sensor and a headset. Under water, the ordinary rhythm of breathing becomes the way to move — and the level of the sea answers.
Commissioned within Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places’ Sea Level Rise programme, in partnership with the University of Miami; the programme was funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Conceived and led by Hannes Bend, co-created with Maria Mishurenko and Gordey Chernyy.
Each visitor’s breathing personalizes the virtual reality experience, shaping movement through the underwater scene and shifting the simulated sea level. Research began in 2016. The archive traces museum and public programmes in Miami and World Maker Faire records in Queens from 2017 to 2018.
How the breath-biofeedback apparatus works · Research and ecological resources on sea-level rise
01 — Trailer, June 2017
All films →Archive title: “SEAing Breath Trailer”Film page →YouTube ↗
Plays only when selected; loads from youtube-nocookie.com.
On record
Museums, public venues and press, 2017–2018. Each line opens its entry and sources; the work was co-created by Hannes Bend, Maria Mishurenko and Gordey Chernyy.
Venues
- 10 June 2017HistoryMiami MuseumStormy Seasons family day · museum event page and project log
- 11–18 June 2017Zoo MiamiAnnounced in the project log · filmed participant interviews
- 19–30 June 2017Miami Center for Architecture & DesignOfficial Miami CAD event listing
- 19 July 2017Vizcaya Museum and Gardens“A Century of Sea Level Rise” · contemporaneous listing
- 16 August 2017Frost ScienceBlue Mind Life: The Seven Ages of Water · museum record
- 10 December 2017Frost SciencePublic activation · filmed visitor interviews
- 2017–2018Pérez Art Museum MiamiMuseum public programme in the artist’s archive; exact date unconfirmed
- September 2017World Maker Faire, QueensMaker record · Virtual Reality
- September 2018World Maker Faire New YorkListed exhibitor · maker record
Press and official records
- The Art NewspaperBen Luke, “As waters rise, artists answer a call to action,” 8 December 2017
- Miami HeraldGeorge Fishman, “It’s not a construction project — it’s public art,” 28 January 2018
- Frost ScienceMuseum record of Blue Mind Life, August 2017
- Miami-Dade CountyArt in Public Places documentation of the Sea Level Rise programme
The programme’s Knight Foundation funding is documented by The Art Newspaper. Full source register →
Archive / contemporary context
Journal
Archive illustration, 2017 · VR scene study
Ocean and ecology · 3 min read
The reef beyond the virtual scene
The original marine studies meet a later record of coral heat stress, bleaching and the possibility of recovery.
Archive illustration, 2017 · Prototype hardware
Biofeedback and interaction · 2 min read
When breathing changes the virtual world
Later research asks what immersion and real physiological feedback contribute to an experience shaped by breathing.
02 — Documentation
From the seabed to the museum floor.
03 — Contents
9 documented presentations · 32 archive films · sources linked throughout.