Saël Simard
ENFR
Work
Underwater still from Presence, filmed in the Seaflower reef

Case study

Authored work

2026– · Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, Colombia

Azul Vivo

Creator & Director

An immersive underwater documentary practice — 360° image, spatial sound, institutional VR and fulldome.

06

01Premise

The question

How does an immersive system influence the body — if we refuse to explain every encounter?

02Encounter

Experience

Reef still from Presence
Saël Simard — Presence

Presence, the first work, was filmed in the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve around San Andrés and Providencia. Humans withdraw so that another presence — the ocean and its living systems — can emerge.

Form: presence through absence. Experience: encounter the ocean as a living presence. Purpose: attachment can become care; care can become protection. The audience is allowed to encounter something before the system explains it.

03Architecture

System

ContextAuthored work
My roleCreator & Director
The workAzul Vivo
Known media & modules
  • 360°
  • VR
  • Fulldome
  • Field production
Shark encounter from Presence
Saël Simard — Presence

Artistic direction, field-production method, underwater capture system, visual language, post-production workflow, immersive presentation strategy, and companion software direction. Form, experience and purpose are held as one architecture — 360° image, spatial sound, institutional VR and fulldome.

04Consequence

What changed

This is the clearest present-day convergence of image, systems, field method and authored immersive work.

Open water from Presence
Saël Simard — Presence

05Project facts

Context

Authorship
Authored work
Role
Creator & Director
Year
2026–
Location
Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, Colombia
Visit projectAzul Vivo

06Attribution

Credits

  • Saël SimardCreator & Director
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