Breathing Piece

Breath, an everyday, automatic bodily process that sustains life is brought to the forefront and controlled through performance. Using box-breathing, a breathing technique meant to calm the nervous system, as a jumping-off point, my performance, Breathing Piece, will follow this controlled method of breathing for a long period of time, much longer than is intended for the technique. As a result of repeating this regimented form of breathing, my body becomes tense, dizzy, and overheat. This reverses the therapeutic intention of box-breathing, demonstrating how systems of control may have good intentions but can have negative consequences. In my performance, I am seen needing to take breaks to rest my body or drink water, disrupting the continuous line drawing. The original performance is done in my studio, a private place, and documented through video, therefore brought into public space. This correlates with illustrating my breathing through lines, an internal and bodily action being exhibited to the public.