Virtual reality art sculpture "Respire 2.0"

/ Gazing into the very inner core of gravity of your own granduer Self

~ Client: Simon Fraser University's School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Canada
Metacreation LAB / Canadian Council for the Arts

Respire 2.0 is an immersive interactive artwork that transforms breathing into a spatial and sensory act and allows the participant to experience his body as grandeur. The experience unfolds inside an abstract, lung-like sculpture. VR’s sculpture’s interior landscape responds to the participant’s presence.

The set of 2D art textures below represents different emotional states of the partipicant

Breath functions as the primary mode of navigation. As the participant inhales and exhales, the virtual space subtly draws them closer into the lung, creating a sensation of entering an internal body. The rhythm, depth, and continuity of breathing influence proximity and immersion, allowing the space to feel responsive, intimate, and alive rather than controlled or mechanical.

Respire 2 investigates breath as an expressive and relational force rather than a purely physiological function. The work invites participants to experience breathing as a way of being in space—one that is intimate, vulnerable, and deeply embodied. By situating the participant inside a responsive, lung-like environment, the piece collapses distinctions between inside and outside, observer and body, self and space. The act of breathing becomes visible and audible, not as data, but as presence. Moments of closeness and withdrawal mirror lived experiences of attention, anxiety, calm, and self-awareness.

CREDITS

Artistic Directors: Philippe Pasquier, Mirjana Prpa, Katerina Semenko
3D Artist: Katerina Semenko
Interaction Design: Mirjana Prpa
Programmer: Szeka Tse
Research Assistant: Dhruv Adhia
Audio: Philippe Pasquier, Keon Leigh, Ge Liu