Marshmallow Laser Feast’s Evolver is a virtual reality experience that drops you deep inside the landscape of the body, following the flow of oxygen through our branching ecosystem to its origin – a single ‘breathing’ cell among trillions within our body.
This journey takes you through the processes that sustain all life, as air travels from the mouth into the lungs, whirling like a tornado, before circulating around the complex rivers and tributaries of our cardiovascular system. As this life force reaches the outer extremities, from the billowing synapses of the brain to our fingers and toes, the interior blooms into a forest of branching pathways, suffused by a fog of life-bringing oxygen. Through this transcendental narrative, it becomes clear that breath not only sparks life, but also connects us to the natural world through the cycle of respiration.
At ACMI, Evolver is presented in its original VR form and as three large-scale, immersive moments. Below is an extract of the poem written by Daisy Lafarge that features in Evolver.
A cell within the body of the earth
It begins with breath:
The syllables of starlight
An ancient language of the cosmos
Uttered by grasses and forests, mountains and bodies
From this chorus
An atmosphere is sung into being
Boundless, caressing;
These are the tides we live in
Nourishing us inside and out
In ripples and ricochets
Immersing us in abundance
As the world breathes out
Life begins to take shape
A tangle of essences
streaming beneath your skin
Blurring the outline of where you end and begin
On this unending journey
Time shades off
Into moments of matter
Breath takes flight,
merging and emerging,
to an infinite rhythm
And somewhere in this cascade
Is you:
Life nested within life
A cell in the body of the earth
Dissolving the boundary
Of who is breathing who
– Marshmallow Laser Feast and Daisy Lafarge
Works of Nature Soundscape: Breath
While developing the artworks featured in Works of Nature, Marshmallow Laser Feast conducted a series of interviews with the foremost thinkers on nature, life and the more-than-human world. These include internationally renowned cultural ecologist and geophilosopher Dr David Abram, Professor of Plant-Soil-Processes at the University of Sheffield Katie J Field, author and founder of Schumacher College Dr Stephan Harding, and biologist and bestselling author Dr Merlin Sheldrake.
In the above soundscape, they discuss how breath connects us to the natural world – and each other.
Artist video
Below, Ersin Han Ersin wanders among the Victorian landscape and explains Marshmallow Laser Feast's connection to nature.
Discover more about Marshmallow Laser Feast
Cry, struggle for words or simply feel alive in ACMI’s visual feast | The Age
Prepare to be transported to a parallel universe | AFR
Exploring Nature with Marshmallow Laser Feast | Aesthetica
Films from Marshmallow Laser Feast | Nowness
Marshmallow Laser Feast is synonymous with pointillist aesthetic in VR experiences | Stir World
Check out our Marshmallow Laser Feast reading list
Executive produced by Edward R. Pressman and Terrence Malick, and alongside the French studio Atlas V, Evolver features voice over by Cate Blanchett and music by Jonny Greenwood, Meredith Monk, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Howard Skempton and Jon Hopkins. Evolver is supported by Nicole Shanahan of Bia-Echo Foundation and Orange, and informed through scientific collaborations with the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, the Allen Institute for Cell Science and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.
The work was developed in partnership with world-renowned creatives including visual artist Natan Sinigaglia, director of sound James Bulley, spatial sound artist Henrik Oppermann, and writer and poet Daisy Lafarge.
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Works in this group have been digitised and are viewable by following the links below.
Collection
Not in ACMI's collection
Previously on display
14 April 2024
ACMI: Gallery 4
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
195670