Chapel of Breathing
Art Ii Biennal, Ii, FIN, 2022.
Chapel of Breathing is a live happening where performance artist Pernilla Eskilsson (SWE) and myself invited the visitors to breathe together with us. Chapel of Breathing is a result of a project where Eskilsson and I have met "in the air" for over a year, to finally meet each other for real in a live performance. It is a kind of investigation into what it means to know someone. How to find a sustainable way of living with each other and with the surroundings.
"By listening and feeling the rhythm of life, we can find a common breath".
Background
Eskilsson and I did not know each other, we had never physically met. We found each other through a mutual friend on social media and realized that we had a lot in common in our art expression. The idea was born that we would get to know each other in order to be able to share experiences and create a performance together. The project Chapel of Breathing was born. The framework for the project was:
- We would not see each other until the end of the live performance.
- We were only allowed to use the written words in our communication. A bit like old-fashioned letter correspondence where the words take a journey through space and time, but in this case through an email conversation.
The mail conversation began in December 2020 and continued until the first physical meeting, which took place in the live performance, Chapel of Breathing at Art Ii Biennal 2022. Blindfolded and in silence we sat in the Chapel of Breathing for two days. Just sharing the same space and breathing together. At the end of the second day we removed our blindfolds and saw each other for the very first time.
