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Breathless experience: freediving film installation opens in London Breathless experience: freediving film installation opens in London
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“It is like learning to walk in a new world, you feel ... nothing else matters,” said the artist Martina Amati, explaining her passion for freediving, the basis of her remarkable new film installation.“It is like learning to walk in a new world, you feel ... nothing else matters,” said the artist Martina Amati, explaining her passion for freediving, the basis of her remarkable new film installation.
After filming in the Red Sea off Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, Amati has created a four-screen installation in a cavernous 14,000 sq ft underground hangar across from Madame Tussaud’s in London, a place that was once used to test concrete and is now used by the University of Westminster as a gallery space.After filming in the Red Sea off Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, Amati has created a four-screen installation in a cavernous 14,000 sq ft underground hangar across from Madame Tussaud’s in London, a place that was once used to test concrete and is now used by the University of Westminster as a gallery space.
Visitors to the show will be immersed in the act of freediving – when swimmers hold their breath for minutes and plunge deep into the sea – watching and listening to ethereal figures, including Amati, diving in an endless seascape of blue. One enormous screen, resembling a freediving platform, will hover above people’s heads.Visitors to the show will be immersed in the act of freediving – when swimmers hold their breath for minutes and plunge deep into the sea – watching and listening to ethereal figures, including Amati, diving in an endless seascape of blue. One enormous screen, resembling a freediving platform, will hover above people’s heads.
Amati, a London-based filmmaker who won a Bafta in 2010 for her short film, I Do Air, took up freediving in 2006.Amati, a London-based filmmaker who won a Bafta in 2010 for her short film, I Do Air, took up freediving in 2006.
“Basically I was a bit lost in my life,” she said. Disillusioned with her job working for MTV, Amati was looking for something new and the freediving course she went on provided it. “Inspiration just kicked back in. I was so blown away.”“Basically I was a bit lost in my life,” she said. Disillusioned with her job working for MTV, Amati was looking for something new and the freediving course she went on provided it. “Inspiration just kicked back in. I was so blown away.”
It set her on a fresh career path, first making a documentary for the Discovery Channel and then creating her own films, with this latest project exploring what helped start it all off. The freediving film was made after she was given a Wellcome Trust large arts award in 2012.It set her on a fresh career path, first making a documentary for the Discovery Channel and then creating her own films, with this latest project exploring what helped start it all off. The freediving film was made after she was given a Wellcome Trust large arts award in 2012.
Amati can dive to around 30 metres, the height of a 10-storey building, on a single breath and regards it as an art rather than sport. “I am not a champion and I have never competed. I freedive in order to find my deeper truth. I let go of everything and enter a totally new world where I need to fully relax and be in the moment. To find my stillness in order to consume as little oxygen as possible.”Amati can dive to around 30 metres, the height of a 10-storey building, on a single breath and regards it as an art rather than sport. “I am not a champion and I have never competed. I freedive in order to find my deeper truth. I let go of everything and enter a totally new world where I need to fully relax and be in the moment. To find my stillness in order to consume as little oxygen as possible.”
Amati, an Italian who was born in Milan and has lived in the UK for about 20 years, said it was a form of meditation. “It is like doing yoga but I always found yoga a bit boring. It is the most positive activity I do in my life and it feels so odd that people regard it as this extreme sport.”Amati, an Italian who was born in Milan and has lived in the UK for about 20 years, said it was a form of meditation. “It is like doing yoga but I always found yoga a bit boring. It is the most positive activity I do in my life and it feels so odd that people regard it as this extreme sport.”
Related: Floating in the deep: why do freedivers push themselves to the verge of death?Related: Floating in the deep: why do freedivers push themselves to the verge of death?
On the installation’s fourth screen Amati is showing a documentary exploring the physiological effects of freediving, which she made with Prof Kevin Fong, co-director of the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine in London. On the installation’s fourth screen, Amati is showing a documentary exploring the physiological effects of freediving, which she made with Prof Kevin Fong, co-director of the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine in London.
One intended interviewee had been Natalia Molchanova, probably the world’s greatest freediver, who is presumed to have died after vanishing during a dive in the Mediterranean in August.One intended interviewee had been Natalia Molchanova, probably the world’s greatest freediver, who is presumed to have died after vanishing during a dive in the Mediterranean in August.
Amati said although it was a tragedy it was a rare event, and that there were not many accidents in freediving. “There are accidents when people go horse riding,” she added.Amati said although it was a tragedy it was a rare event, and that there were not many accidents in freediving. “There are accidents when people go horse riding,” she added.
• Under is at Ambika P3, London, until 11 October. Admission is free.• Under is at Ambika P3, London, until 11 October. Admission is free.