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Benthos 360

Jun 06, 2025 Jun 22, 2025

Benthos 360 is an immersive 360° documentary experience about conserving the most-endangered group of animals in the United States: the freshwater mussel.

With a restoration biologist from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as your underwater guide, dive beneath Appalachia’s Clinch River—the  most biodiverse and most threatened mussel habitat in the country—to explore the vibrant yet vulnerable aquatic world known as the “Benthic Zone.”

The installation invites visitors to learn about conservation and to view rivers, streams, and mussels in a whole new light through Virtual Reality. This union of creative practice, scientific research, and cutting-edge technologies allows artists to explore new ways of engaging with communities to foster empathy and inspire action.

Visitors explore Virginia Tech’s Benthos 360 exhibit at the ACCelerate Festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in April 2022

Visitors explore Virginia Tech’s Benthos 360 exhibit at the ACCelerate Festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in April 2022

Visitors explore Virginia Tech’s Benthos 360 exhibit at the ACCelerate Festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in April 2022

Visitors explore Virginia Tech’s Benthos 360 exhibit at the ACCelerate Festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in April 2022

Visitors explore Virginia Tech’s Benthos 360 exhibit at the ACCelerate Festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in April 2022

Visitors explore Virginia Tech’s Benthos 360 exhibit at the ACCelerate Festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in April 2022

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