Breathe | Mauri Ora

An Immersive Journey into Nature
by Marshmallow Laser Feast

He tirohanga hou ki te ao.

Ko tā Breathe | Mauri Ora he whakamārama i ngā mana huna ā-rangi, ā-nuku e karapoti ana i a tātou, e whakaatu ana i te hiranga mā ngā haerenga ā-tairongo e whakanui nei i ngā āhuatanga tē kitea i te ao o ia rā. Mai i ngā pakiaka o tētahi rākau nui nō Amahona, ki ngā peka huna o te tinana me te whānautanga o ngā ikarangi, ka ruku hōhonu atu tēnei kaupapa wheako ki te ō mataora e whakatipuria ana, e honoa mai ana ngā mea ora katoa – te MAURI ORA.

***

See the world from a new perspective.

Breathe | Mauri Ora illuminates the hidden forces surrounding us, revealing the sublime through sensory journeys beyond our everyday perception. From the roots of a majestic Amazonian tree to the unseen branches of the body and the birth of galaxies, this immersive experience explores the rhythm that cultivates and connects all life – breath.

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Video: Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature, 2023, ACMI. Courtesy of the Artists

When | Āhea

Where | Ki hea

Level 4

Cost | Te utu

Adult Premium Ticket (includes VR experience): $40
Concession Premium Ticket (includes VR experience): (Student; Gold Card; Community Services Card; Friends of Te Papa member): $33
Child Premium Ticket (includes VR experience): (rec. 14 yrs and over): $25
Adult: $30
Concession: (Student; Gold Card; Community Services Card; Friends of Te Papa member): $23
Child (under 16): $15 (under 5s are free)
Family (2 Adults, 2 children): $75
International Visitor + Breathe | Mauri Ora Adult: $58.00
Additional VR experience (pay as you go): $10
Support companion: Free
Last ticket sales at 5.15pm

Ages | TE REANGA

All ages

Allow | ME WHAKARITE

60 minutes

Accessibility | E wātea ana ki

This is a highly sensory experience
A sensory guide and map is coming soon

Digital artworks on a grand scale

This exhibition features major digital artworks on an awe-inspiring scale from London-based collective Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF). Through guided meditation, large-scale video works, and interactive experiences, you evolve from droplets of water to plants, cells, and stars, becoming part of the cycle of life and the cosmos.

Using creative technology to deepen our understanding of and connection to the world around us, MLF reminds us that we are just one species in a shared ecosystem and asks, what can we learn from nature to prepare for the future?

An optional VR experience immerses you in the journey of breath. Extra charge applies.

Creative collaborations

Breathe | Mauri Ora features artworks:

executive-produced by the late Edward R Pressman and filmmaker Terrence Malick
narration by executive producer Cate Blanchett
poetry by Daisy Lafarge
music by Jon Hopkins, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Meredith Monk, Howard Skempton, and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.

About Marshmallow Laser Feast

Marshmallow Laser Feast is a London-based art collective led by artists and directors Robin McNicholas, Ersin Han Ersin, and Barnaby Steel. They work at the intersection of science, art, and technology – employing a wealth of creative disciplines, from installation to kinetic sculpture, film to live performance.

MLF’s work invites participants into a sensory journey that reinterprets the idea of human perception and experiences beyond our everyday reality. MLF collaborates with artists, engineers and scientists, building bespoke software and hardware systems to realise their visions. More at marshmallowlaserfeast.com

About ACMI

This major exhibition is created by ACMI – Australia’s national museum of screen culture based in Melbourne, Victoria. Watch, play, make and discover the universe of screen-based art, films, TV and video games. More at acmi.net.au.

Breathe | Mauri Ora Events Season

A composite photo of three heads on top of each others. There are lots of dots covering them.

First Breath: Opening Party

Be among the first to explore Breathe | Mauri Ora at a special opening party that includes late-night exhibition access and live entertainment.

From Marshmallow Laser Feast

“We are thrilled to present at Te Papa Breathe | Mauri Ora: An Immersive Journey into Nature by Marshmallow Laser Feast. This exhibition is a celebration of being alive and explores our continued fascination with what sits just outside the reach of our senses. Creating this group of artworks included scanning trees in the Amazon, listening in on black holes and mapping the human body in microscopic detail – to explore the life forces that connect us, the natural world, and the universe. It’s a real privilege to bring this work to Aotearoa.”
– Marshmallow Laser Feast

View the different experiences in Breathe | Mauri Ora

*Breathe* l *Mauri Ora* introduction
*Video installation, 2 minutes*
Where do you end, and the world begins? We belong to the biosphere, a beautifully complex system that connects us to everything. Trees inhale our breath and use sunlight to exhale oxygen. We breathe in an eternal cycle of reciprocity.
Our collective future depends on seeing the invisible networks between us and nature, the world beyond our human senses.
Image: Marshmallow Laser Feast (courtesy of the artists).

Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest
*Video installation, 4 minutes*
This large-scale video installation of an Amazonian kapok tree embraces you as you enter the gallery. The work draws attention to the immensity of our natural world and puts the human body into perspective.
Credits: By Marshmallow Laser Feast
Originally commissioned by Barbican Immersive
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature*, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Mark Ashkanasy.

Evolver
*A series of large-scale video installations with optional VR.*
From the exhale of a tree to the first intake of human breath, *Evolver* takes you on a voyage through the body, following the flow of oxygen to its origin as a single living cell. Originally devised as a VR experience, the work has been reimagined for this exhibition. It includes a meditation space with narration from executive producer Cate Blanchett, a visual journey of the breath, and a hypnotic sequence that connects the birth of a cell with the cosmos.
Credits
Narrated By: Cate Blanchett
Executive Producers: Edward R Pressman & Terrence Malick
Executive Producers: Cate Blanchett, Coco Francini, Andrew Upton, Nicole Shanahan
Producers: Sam Pressman, Antoine Cayrol
Directed by Marshmallow Laser Feast
An Atlas V Pressman Film and Marshmallow Laser Feast Production
In Association with Dirty Films
Supported by Nicole Shanahan & Bia-Echo Foundation
Made in Collaboration with Natan Sinigaglia
Key scientific collaborator: The Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature*, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Eugene Hyland.

Evolver: Deep Listening Meditation
*Meditation experience, 10 minutes*
Take part in a collective meditation guided by the voice of Academy Award–winning actor Cate Blanchett, with a score by Jon Hopkins.
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature*, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Mark Ashkanasy.

Evolver: The Journey of Breath
*Immersive experience, 14 minutes*
Where does the human body begin and end? This room-scale installation follows the path of oxygen as it travels throughout the lungs and heart.
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature*, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Eugene Hyland.

Evolver: The Breathing Cell
*Video installation, 5 minutes*
Lie back to view this ceiling-mounted projection. Follow the path of oxygen processed within cells to become carbon dioxide, which then travels back through the lungs and is exhaled with each breath.
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature*, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Eugene Hyland.

Evolver: VR
*Virtual Reality experience, 24 minutes ($10 add-on to exhibition ticket)*
Experience *Evolver* in its original VR format. This transformative work invites you to immerse yourself in the journey of breath.
Image: Composite image. VR user © Te Papa. Original image: Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Eugene Hyland.

The Tides Within Us
*Visual experience, 5 minutes*
Six large-scale still images revealing the rhythms of oxygen flowing through the branching ecosystem of the human body. This work challenges the boundaries between humans and the environment, and where the body begins and ends.
Credits: By Marshmallow Laser Feast
Co-commissioned by York Mediale with Coventry City of Culture Trust
Key scientific collaborator: Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature*, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Mark Ashkanasy.

The Scale of Things
*Video installation, 10 minutes*
A precursor to *Distortions in Spacetime*, these works provide insight into the science of black holes and the cosmos. Under a microscope, a cell appears to breathe halos of light. If we could lie beneath it and look up, we might see how similar a cell is to a star. By changing our point of view, we begin to realise that we’re as made of stars as we are of cells.
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature*, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Mark Ashkanasy.

Distortions in Spacetime
*Immersive, interactive experience, 10 minutes*
Journey through space to the edge of a black hole. In this interactive voyage between time, space, and human experience, harness the energy of the universe and explore the link between black holes, dying stars, and the human body.
Credits: By Marshmallow Laser Feast
Commissioned by Manchester Science Festival, part of the Science Museum
Group in partnership with The British Science Festival and University of Hull
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature*, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Eugene Hyland.

We Live in an Ocean of Air
*Video installation, 11 minutes*
This work brings visitors back to earth and continues the journey of a single breath. Revealing the invisible connection between plants and people, *We Live in an Ocean of Air* delves into the wondrous rhythm that underpins life on earth.
Credit: By Marshmallow Laser Feast
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature*, 2023, ACMI. Photo © Eugene Hyland.

Science Behind the Sublime
*Visual experience, 15 minutes*
This final section peels back the layers in Marshmallow Laser Feast’s process and practice, revealing the stories and technologies behind these incredible artworks. As an artist collective, Marshmallow Laser Feast seeks to find emotional resonance in scientific stories that connect us to the more-than human world. When coupled with emerging technologies, these stories deepen our understanding of what it is to be something other than human.
Image: *Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature,* 2023, ACMI. Photo © Mark Ashkanasy.

Te Papa thanks its partners

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