{"id":431084,"date":"2025-12-07T13:58:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T13:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/431084\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T13:58:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T13:58:16","slug":"birch-aquarium-dives-deep-in-the-waters-with-meditation-ocean-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/431084\/","title":{"rendered":"Birch Aquarium dives deep in the waters with \u2018Meditation Ocean\u2019 \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Curator\u2019s Words<\/strong> is an occasional series that takes a critical look at current exhibitions through the eyes of curators.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something peaceful \u2014 meditative, even \u2014 about being in the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef Base,\u201d a new exhibit at Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, explores that concept.<\/p>\n

Megan Dickerson, director of exhibits at Birch Aquarium, talks about the exhibit, which opened Nov. 20 and is on display through Feb. 22.<\/p>\n

Q: Tell us more about the \u201cmeditation\u201d concept tied to this exhibit.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> A meditator might focus on \u201cthe breath,\u201d something usually invisible yet deeply felt in the body. In scuba diving, divers breathe from a finite air supply that allows them to exist in a world humans weren\u2019t built for. Beneath the surface, the invisible becomes visible as streams of bubbles rise toward the light. Breathing can even physically move you: a breath in, you ascend. A breath out, you sink.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef Base\u201d begins here, with breath as both a physical and metaphorical link between humans and the ocean. In the exhibition, we\u2019re connecting to the growing understanding that being immersed in natural environments can enhance empathy, awareness and wellbeing. Soon-to-be-published studies suggest this is especially true for aquanauts, who spend extended time \u2014 sometimes as long as a month \u2014 living underwater. Their reports describe feelings of calm, interconnection and perspective similar to the \u201coverview effect\u201d that astronauts experience when seeing Earth from space.<\/p>\n

In both cases, stepping outside ordinary human boundaries, whether into orbit or beneath the sea, can bring us a renewed sense of belonging with other beings on the planet. \u201cMeditation Ocean\u201d invites visitors to share in that feeling of presence and interconnection through sound, video and reflection.<\/p>\n

\"Step<\/a>Step into \u201cMeditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef
\nBase\u201d at Birch Aquarium through a recreation of the
\nunderwater base\u2019s iconic porthole. (Jordann Tomasek \/ Birch Aquarium at Scripps)<\/p>\n

Q: How did this exhibition come to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> Artist Hope Ginsburg is both a meditator and a diver. Through her collaborative Meditation Ocean Constellation, she weaves these practices together with artists, scientists and other practitioners. In work I first encountered at the Wexner Center, Hope and her team filmed divers meditating at their research sites, especially in the Florida Keys, where the effects of ocean warming on coral reefs are heartbreakingly clear.<\/p>\n

Having worked at Scripps Oceanography, sometimes alongside coral scientists watching their life\u2019s work change before their eyes, I recognized that feeling of what Donna Haraway calls \u201cstaying with the trouble.\u201d It\u2019s become a kind of mantra for me: yes, things are bad, and still \u2014 stay with the breath, stay with the trouble.<\/p>\n

I reached out to Hope this spring to see if she might want to collaborate. She had just completed dives and documentation with the Meditation Ocean Constellation at Aquarius Reef Base, the world\u2019s only undersea research habitat. Since 1993, Aquarius has rested 63 feet below Florida\u2019s Conch Reef, hosting hundreds of missions. Though no research missions have taken place since 2020, Aquarius now serves as a refuge for marine life even as surrounding coral declines from climate change. When Hope said she\u2019d be open to sharing work in progress, we jumped at the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Q: This is an unusual exhibition in that it was filmed underwater. What was the most challenging part of gathering materials for this show?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> To capture their incredible footage of nurse sharks, cup corals and Caribbean octopuses \u2014 alongside human animals, the aquanauts \u2014 took the Meditation Ocean Constellation about five years of planning and lots of permitting. Aquarius Reef Base is in a research-only area of a marine sanctuary, and everything had to be planned down to the moment.<\/p>\n

In the exhibition, you\u2019ll also hear fascinating interviews with the staff, aquanauts and divers who have made every Aquarius Reef mission possible. One of my favorite stories is about how the aquanauts get to know specific animal residents of the reef, like an Atlantic Goliath Grouper with a distinctive mark that\u2019s been named \u201cSylvia\u201d after regular Aquarius aquanaut Sylvia Earle.<\/p>\n

After working at Aquarius for decades, many of the aquanauts think of the animals who live there not as specimens or \u201cothers,\u201d but rather as neighbors and unique fellow beings.<\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/a>Learn more about the science of saturation
\ndiving and the history of underwater research
\nplatforms in \u201cMeditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef Base\u201d at
\nBirch Aquarium. (Jordann Tomasek \/ Birch Aquarium at Scripps)<\/p>\n

Q: This is a unique reframing of the underwater narrative \u2014 as a meditation space. What other programming are you doing to bring the concept home?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> While the exhibition centers on meditation in nature and the awe of undersea life, we also wanted to answer some of the practical questions that come up when you talk about living underwater: What do you eat? Where\u2019s the bathroom? To that end, we\u2019ve added a few interpretive exhibits.<\/p>\n

One explores the history of undersea habitats, which peaked in the 1960s and \u201870s. This year marks the 60th anniversary of San Diego\u2019s own SEALAB II, where astronaut Scott Carpenter, Navy staff and Scripps Oceanography researchers spent nearly a month living underwater just three-quarters of a mile from Scripps Pier. You\u2019ll see challenge coins and a few artifacts from that audacious project.<\/p>\n

Another installation simulates the interior of Aquarius Reef Base, complete with bunks, galley tables and stories from Scripps Oceanography researchers like Dale Stokes and Jim Leichter, who\u2019ve completed multiple missions there. (My favorite involves the \u201cpoop gnome,\u201d but you\u2019ll have to visit the show to hear it.)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a Zen saying: \u201cBefore enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.\u201d Learning about the everyday logistics of life underwater feels a bit like that. Researchers go to Aquarius to collect data, but in the process encounter moments of the sublime \u2014 like Dale Stokes\u2019 story of witnessing a sudden wave of bioluminescence glowing through the dark.<\/p>\n

Or, as another famous meditator, Ram Dass, said, \u201cwe\u2019re all just walking each other home.\u201d Hope Ginsburg\u2019s \u201cMeditation Ocean\u201d body of work extends that idea beyond our human kin to the billions of other beings we share this planet with. In the end, we\u2019re all walking each other home.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The installation \u201cM.O. Aquarius Reef Base\u201d
\nimmerses guests in scenes filmed at the underwater
\nresearch platform in \u201cMeditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef
\nBase\u201d at Birch Aquarium. (Jordann Tomasek \/ Birch Aquarium at Scripps)
\nBirch Aquarium presents \u201cMeditation Ocean: Aquarius Reef Base\u201d<\/p>\n

When:<\/strong> Through Feb. 22, 2026<\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong> Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, 2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla<\/p>\n

Admission:<\/strong> $24.95 to $39.95<\/p>\n

Phone:<\/strong> 858-534-3474<\/p>\n

Online:<\/strong> aquarium.ucsd.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Curator\u2019s Words is an occasional series that takes a critical look at current exhibitions through the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":431085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,171,3548,1370,50,3549,3550,7264,159,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5548],"class_list":{"0":"post-431084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-la-jolla","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-san-diego","16":"tag-san-diego-county","17":"tag-sandiego","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-things-to-do","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-visual-arts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115678643978674146","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}