A new exhibition, Meditation Ocean (M.O.), conceived and directed by VCUarts professor, Hope Ginsburg, will be on display at the Wexner Center of the Arts in Columbus, Ohio from Feb 10–July 9, 2023.
The featured work, M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow, and the show itself are credited to the Mediation Ocean Constellation, a group comprised of artists, writers, educators, meditators, musicians, curators, divers and scientists. M.O. is an immersive experience and the culmination of Ginsburg’s two year residency at the Wexner Center. This “underwater meditation retreat” invites audiences to join a scuba diving team as they meditate in coral reef environments and “breathe with the wildlife inhabiting each underwater site.”
A series of programs, workshops and events developed with the Department of Learning & Public Practice will accompany the exhibition. Ginsburg also worked with Art & Resilience at the Wexner and its student leaders. Additional engagements involve The Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and Olentangy River Wetlands Research Park.
Bio:
Hope Ginsburg is an interdisciplinary, project-based artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues such as MASS MoCA, the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Mercosul Biennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Her work has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Women & Philanthropy at The Ohio State University. She is the recipient of a Wexner Center for the Arts Artist Residency Award in Film/Video, a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship in Film and Video and an Art Matters Foundation Grant. Her work has appeared in various publications including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Ginsburg holds a Master of Science in Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.F.A. in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art. Ginsburg currently teaches at VCUarts in the Art Foundation Program and the Department of Painting + Printmaking.
About Meditation Ocean:
Meditation Ocean works for human and more-than-human well-being through oceanic meditation and responsive terrestrial action.The project emphasizes the interdependence of individual and communal healing and the nonduality of the social and the environmental. In October 2021, 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. 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 M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow, a six-channel video installation and soundscape. This “indoor ocean” will premiere at the Wexner Center in the exhibition.
Lead Image: M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow, Meditation Ocean Constellation, 2023.