National museum Te Papa will be opening an immersive experience from this weekend featuring digital artworks that will take visitors on a journey into nature.<\/p>\n
From the roots of an Amazonian tree, to deep inside the body, through to the birth of galaxies, Breathe | Mauri Ora explores the rhythm that cultivates and connects all life – breath.<\/p>\n
The artworks from London-based collective Marshmallow Laser Feast feature a guided meditation, large-scale video works, and interactive experiences.<\/p>\n
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\n“It invites people to think about how they relate to the natural world in a new way,” Emily Sexton says.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone\n<\/p>\n
Rebecca Rice, senior curator historical New Zealand art at Te Papa, said the exhibition was a remarkable journey.<\/p>\n
She said the exhibition went from the oxygen that’s breathed out of a tree through the human body and back out into the cosmos.<\/p>\n
“In the five major works that make up this show, they are taking us from the journey of oxygen from trees through the human body and back again.<\/p>\n
“Some of these are based on scanning of trees from the Amazon forests, from the Californian forests,” she said.<\/p>\n
“They’ve also taken data from medical scanning of one of the team members’ bodies in a medical Institute in Germany.”<\/p>\n
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\nThe exhibition is based on large scale digital projections.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone\n<\/p>\n
Rice said that data was then used to follow a journey of breath through the human body.<\/p>\n
She said one of her favourite parts of the exhibition was a 5 metre round screen of a breathing cell that visitors looked up at from a purpose-made couch.<\/p>\n
She said for this installation people were able to lie down and not just stand and admire artwork on the wall.<\/p>\n
“So that wonderful thing of feeling that you’re changing your perception in relation to these works of art, just as Marshmallow Laser Feast are hoping to change our perception in relation to the natural world.”<\/p>\n
The exhibition was created by ACMI, Australia’s museum of screen culture.<\/p>\n
Alongside the digital artspaces, visitors can also relax with a guided meditation voiced by actress Cate Blanchett or explore the world using VR.<\/p>\n
Emily Sexton, director of curatorial, programming and education for ACMI, said it was the VR work that inspired ACMI to start working with Marshmallow Laser Feast.<\/p>\n
“One of the things that is really exciting about this show is that it takes a museum context, which is a place of trust and learning, and it invites people to think about how they relate to the natural world in a new way,” Sexton said.<\/p>\n
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\nThe exhibition is an immersive experience.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone\n<\/p>\n
She said Marshmallow Laser Feast brought together all sorts of different disciplines “to really identify the most cutting-edge technology that can actually act in quite an emotional way, to connect us more deeply to big philosophical ideas”.<\/p>\n
Dr Thom Linley, curator fishes at Te Papa, said the exhibition highlighted on people’s connection with the natural world.<\/p>\n
He encouraged people to go along and experience the show.<\/p>\n
“The grandeur and the scale of some of these artworks, the fact that you can immerse yourself so completely in them, I would encourage people just to come along and to take the time and give themselves a little bit of time and a bit of permission to relax and enjoy it and see how it speaks to you.”<\/p>\n
Breathe Mauri Ora will be at Te Papa 13 December 2025 – 27 April 2026.<\/p>\n