A Multisensory Experience: "The Centre" by Jason Bruges Studio

"The Centre" is Jason Bruges Studio's latest installation at the Museum of the Future in Dubai. The multisensory installation is an inhabitable media artwork that combines water, light, vibration, and sound to reawaken the senses. 

In a world of touchscreens, the metaverse, and augmented reality, there is a need to reconnect with our bodies and with each other. As an antidote to our digitally saturated reality, the installation offers an immediate, visceral experience inspired by historic rituals. Since the dawn of time, humans have sought unique ways to physically heal and spiritually recentre. Across the globe, socio-cultural practices have been constructed in pursuit of healing and spirituality. From Victorian spa therapies to Tibetan gong baths, these rituals use water and vibration in hopes of achieving restorative purposes. Historically, people gathered by water for survival and habitually still do. In the present day, you might often see office workers gathering by water fountains with their sandwiches at lunchtime In city centres.

Inspired by these traditions, "The Centre" is a healing environment for future generations. An elevated, celestial 'well' holds a shallow layer of water sits within the space. As highly controlled oscillations act upon the liquid, an immersive soundscape envelops the room. Light cast through the central lens projects caustic animations into a vast architectural dome bathing visitors beneath in delicate, liquid light. Ever evolving, the light and soundscape use a tightly honed palette of effects inspired by the water cycle. Water coalesces to form clouds, falls as rain, flows as meandering streams and rejoins the ocean.

“This project offered a rare opportunity to push the realms of the possible. With The Centre, we wanted to create a feeling of self-transcendence. To provide a space that is spiritual and meditative but also grounding. That allows people to feel connected within themselves, with each other and with physical reality." - Jason Bruges, Creative Director and Founder.

Suspended from place and time, the studio encourages a moment of stillness through this installation. Through the processes of recentring and looking inwards, they question whether we can in turn be more open and personally connected to those around us.

About Jason Bruges Studio

Jason Bruges Studio is a dynamic, multidisciplinary art and design practice based in London. Established in 2002, the Studio is internationally renowned as a pioneer of the hybrid space between art, architecture, and technology. Through intervening in the urban environment, the Studio produces moments of theatre that weave a sense of magic into the fabric of a place. Bespoke and site-specific, each project explores interrelationships between people, data, nature and technology. Telling stories and creating conversations, the artworks bring people together to ultimately surprise, delight and stir the imagination.

About the Museum of the Future

The Museum of the Future is the first museum of its kind. Built to transform the very perception of the future as we know it, the unique structure has become home to several immersive future environments that aim to position visitors in an empowering version of the future. Through distinctive themes, it elicits a world we thought we could only experience 50 years from now. Visitors become active participants in an expansive experience that taps into all five senses. By meaningfully merging aspects of science, art, technology and spirituality, the Museum inspires humanity to re-imagine the future and all its possibilities. The Museum is part of Dubai Future Foundation. Launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Dubai Future Foundation was established back in 2016 to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Dubai, as well as to collectively imagine, inspire and design the city’s future in collaboration with the government and private entities within various industries.

All images courtesy of Jason Bruges Studio, photos by Sandra Ciampone.