Mike Parr

"The idea is that you adjust, you kind of get into synch with me and that the film show you coming into synch with me as an aspect of the point of the work"

- Mike Parr (about 100 Breaths) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw0xv__mokY

Breath & Body

I have recently started paying closer attention to the actual sound of breath. On its own rather than accompanied by something else. The video below is a simple documentation of conscious breathing. 

Josie Do Nizza. 2012. Breathing

I also wanted to experiment with other body generated sounds, subtle ones. The sounds which require close attention in other to hear, just like breathing. 

Josie Do Nizza. 2012. Swallow

Paper bag

Looking back on my many balloon experiments, I tried finding another object that could capture breath inside it and allow the breath to shape it. A paper bag in my close proximity seemed perfect. A found object used in our day to day life. I edited the video like I did in a past work to add my own view of it, and focus attention on in and out movements. This way I could experiment with all breaths at once. Slow, calm, deep, short. 

Josie Do Nizza. 2012

'I think good art makes a person feel individual and conscious. And there is awareness in the moment of the contact with art.'

Gabriel Orozco, (video for Tate Britain)

Marcel Duchamp, Notes on the Infra-Slim//c 1945

A transformer designed to utilize the slight, wasted energies such as:
the excess of pressure on an electric switch
the exhalation of tobacco smoke
the growth of a head of hair, of other body hair and of the nails
the fall of urine or excrement
movements of fear, astonishment, boredom, anger
laughter
dropping of tears
demonstrative gestures of hand, feet, nervous ticks
forbidding glances
falling over with surprise
stretching, yawning, sneezing
ordinary spitting and of blood
vomiting
ejaculation
unruly hair, cowlicks
the sound of nose-blowing, snoring
fainting
whistling, singing
sighs, etc [...]

I heard about Duchamp's Notes on the Infra- Slim in a lecture we had earlier on this year, since then my mind keeps reminding me of this list. I'm interested in it not as a means of passing from the second to the third dimension, but as a list of movements we can never completely control. I highlighted the ones related to breath and air coming in and out of our bodies and thought of a few more:

gasps

burps

cough

hiccups

Johnstone, S (Ed.). (2008) The Everyday: Documents of Contemporary Art. Whitechapel Ventures Limited, London.

Year 2 Studio Exhibition 'Hairy Sunrise'

The year 2 show was held at St David's Church Hall, I chose to exhibit one of my sound works in the space, an unconscious continuos breath. My intention was for the audience to walk around the space wondering where the breathing was coming from, and to roam around looking for it. Or as they experienced other works and encounters they would hear the subtle breathing, sometimes aware of it sometimes not, just like we do and don't acknowledge our own breath everyday. 

Unfortunately during opening night, my work became almost insignificant, due to the large open space, the acoustics and the amount of people interacting. We all know this is usually common with sound works and sound projections on opening nights, but I did not expect for the breathing to be muffled completely. Some people suggested I should have gotten speakers that provided louder sound, but that would have pushed against my ideas and interests around breath. I enjoy the privacy and intimacy of breath, making it loud enough for a gallery opening would not only make it overbearing but it would also intrude on other works. 

St David's Church Hall, Khyber Pass, Auckland. 

The rest of the exhibiting days proved successful since there weren't many noises or sounds coming from anywhere, making it easy to hear the constant breathing. I feel like the space wasn't ideal for this particular piece, it would have worked better in a smaller room and perhaps on its own.

Josie Do Nizza. Untitled (2012). Sound installation.

Janet Cardiff

Janet Cardiff. The Forty Part Motet (2001)

'Forty separately recorded voices are played back through forty speakers strategically placed throughout the space.'

Comments by the artist: 
"While listening to a concert you are normally seated in front of the choir, in traditional audience position. With this piece I want the audience to be able to experience a piece of music from the viewpoint of the singers. Every performer hears a unique mix of the piece of music. Enabling the audience to move throughout the space allows them to be intimately connected with the voices. It also reveals the piece of music as a changing construct. As well I am interested in how sound may physically construct a space in a sculptural way and how a viewer may choose a path through this physical yet virtual space.

I placed the speakers around the room in an oval so that the listener would be able to really feel the sculptural construction of the piece by Tallis. You can hear the sound move from one choir to another, jumping back and forth, echoing each other and then experience the overwhelming feeling as the sound waves hit you when all of the singers are singing.”

Amber, one of my tutors, suggested this piece to me as I spoke to her about my recent inclination towards just sound, rather than sound + video. I find this work really stunning even though I can only imagine what it must be like to move through that room. Being able to move up close to the standing speakers and listen to each singer individually and simultaneously all at once would change the experience completely, wrapping the entire space and audience in waves of sound.

Here is a video documentation of the work at the Venice Architectural Biennale in 2010