A Cultivated Atmosphere/ A Narrowing Corridor is a collaborative work with Zelda Smith. The work consisted of a silicone mouth adhered to the center of a stack of 30 brushed aluminum plates. The mouth was covered by a translucent silicone bubble. On each side of the plates, a set of stacked utensils (forks on the left, knives on the right), were mounted in a manner resembling a floating, extruded place setting. A concealed pump draws air out of the silicone bubble which encompasses the mouth-form, collapsing the bubble and drawing it against the shape of the mouth. Air was then slowly pumped back into the bubble so that it inflated and expanded back to its original form. This cycle of inflation and deflation corresponds to a cycle of revelation/concealment. The choreography of mechanical breath imbues the work with a sense of anxiety and claustrophobia. The sculpture speaks to the passive and sterile consumerism pervasive in our daily lives. Many lack necessities to support the indulgent excess of the few. The work models mechanistic cycles of human need vs desire and how those two things are at odds with each other, contributing to the ever-growing wealth gap. The incorporation of soft robotic techniques and the ability to mimic breath in our sculptures has allowed us to explore “affective” design. With A Cultivated Atmosphere/ A Narrow Corridor, we explored the possibilities of making a sculpture that demonstrates an embodied experience, as well as one that elicits an embodied reaction from the viewer.