Breath
Idea & Concept: Artist/Director Nønne Mai Svalholm @svalholm
Development and Design: Artist/Director Nønne Mai Svalholm in collaboration with Henrik Vibskov @henrikvibskov
Dimensions:
Ø pillars: 30cm
Ø beam: 25cm
Outer dimensions: 396 x 5
80 x 300(h) cm
Fabric: 85 sqm
Material: IMHI ABS plastic
Yellow and black, ready to be huggged but also imposing and a sculpture that somehow seems to "breathe" on its own. Breath literally puffs up, suddenly stands straight and tall with its stripes while it has taken over the space it is in. It can seem alarming with its bold colors like a road barrier drawing attention to something dangerous, while for others it appears soft and welcoming, as if it were a kind of bounce house for adults. The inflatable sculpture transforms from a flat heap of plastic into a construction of striped horizontal and vertical cylinders. Large enough to resemble a canopy or an odd striped body one can move around and pass through its legs, while being able to look out to the sides and have a view over it.
Breath is created as a site-sensitive piece, particularly sensitive to the surroundings and the environment in which it is placed. Inspired by the book "The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction" by Ursula K. Le Guin, the work leaves its surroundings untouched.
Breath is a sculpture, a unit, but it is also a constantly changing installation that has been part of several different choreographic works by Nønne Mai Svalholm. Breath is intended to interact with the audience, performers, and the surroundings in which it is placed. It is an active and living sculpture that changes meaning and function depending on the choreographic work it is part of. The sculpture was originally created as part of a series of three sculptures for the choreographed city walk in Aarhus, titled "Collective Matter" in 2021. Here, Breath served as a site-specific sculptural installation placed at Bispetorvet in front of Aarhus Theatre in the center of Aarhus.
The sculpture series was created in collaboration with the multidisciplinary artist Henrik Vibskov. With Svalholm's dance and choreographed movements, Breath becomes part of a total installation/performance, where the space of the sculpture frames the interaction between performers and the audience. A new space is created between the sculpture, the performers, and the audience, emerging from their presence - albeit fleetingly. Breath is designed to be mobile and able to transform an existing space. The sculpture is not created for just one site-specific location; it can be moved to new locations, placed indoors, and the surroundings will both influence how the sculpture unfolds in space and how its meaning will change depending on the context and the project it is part of.
Breath has also been shown at ARoS in 2023, where Svalholm choreographed a performance with Breath as the focal point. Her muse, Sisse Lunøe (b. 1950), and Svalholm herself were the two performers who thematically and concretely danced to their own distinct breathing in and around Breath. Additionally, Breath has been performed as a choreographic work at the Passage Festival in 2023 and at the Fira Tárrega festival in Spain in 2023.