The Studio breathes

Happy to have collaborated this year with the artist Dave Webb while doing my residency at The Studio. Inspired by the INTIMAL experience of breathing as form of telepresence he created this work:

In Dave’s words:

“The Studio Breathes is an art and technology experience, made for you: the residents, staff and guests at The Studio. It was made in response to the fact that, for good reasons, the studio has not been open as a place for regular collective presence. The concept is that, whether working remotely, or in person, you can become present at the studio by capturing and sending your breathing to the studio, where it can be combined with the breathing of others and visualised. 

Breathing connects body and mind in profound ways. As you become aware of your breath, it will change. This change affects your body and this subsequently changes your state of mind. Outside the body, your breath is ephemeral and insubstantial. The Studio Breathes lets you employ your breathing to centre yourself, and to use it to close the distance between you, other residents, and the studio itself where the breaths come together to create something new and generative. 

A mobile web app invites you to become aware of your breathing, by tracing on the screen as you breathe. This unfamiliar action helps you to think about the speed and depth of your breath. Reflections and prompts, provided by fellow resident Ximena, are animated to help you use this mindful moment to think about the opportunity created by a day at the studio. You then capture your breathing rhythm by once again tracing your breathing on the screen. The breathing rhythm is sent to the studio as data, where it is joined with that of others to be visualised on a screen in the foyer. The studio visualisations create a new, emergent rhythm, generated by the interplay of the present breathers from the last few hours. While this is only visible at the studio, a simple joint visualisation is included in the web app, and a fully web based virtual studio version of the visuals is planned.”

To take part, use your mobile phone to visit 

http://the.studiobreathes.org/

Thanks to Dave to invite me to collaborate in this beautiful project!