RESPIRE, RESPIRE (2019)

Co-comissioned by Artspace, Sydney; UQ Art Museum, Brisbane; & Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers

Photo: Clemens Habicht

CONFORT MODERNE, POITIERS
JUN 14 - AUG 18, 2019

Curated by Sarina Basta

Performers: Sylvie Bouchetiere, Nile Guiraud, Damaris Haertl, Alice Le Ster, Michelle Newton, Konstanze Stroiber & Sabine Rittner
Research & Production: Mel O'Callaghan with Alexandra Pedley
Glass production in collaboration with: Yvon Goude, Goude Glass, France
Sound Designer: Matthieu Gasnier

Photo: Clemens Habicht, Ana Lefaux, Zan Wimberley & Document Photography

ARTSPACE, SYDNEY
AUG 22 - OCT 27, 2019

Curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor and Michelle Newton

Performers: Omer Astrachan, Eugene Choi, Ryuichi Fujimura, Ana Lefaux, Keia McGrady, Michelle Newtown & Sabine Rittner
Harpist: Verna Lee
Sound Production: Matthieu Gasnier
Producers: Alexandra Pedley & Elif Temizkan
Performance Coordinator: Elyse Goldfinch

Photo: Maculangan & the artist

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART AND DESIGN (MCAD), MANILA
SEPT 5 - DEC 1, 2019

Musician Teresa Barrozo
Research & Production with Alexandra Pedley

Photo: Clemens Habicht & Simon Woods

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND ART MUSEUM (UQ)
FEB 22 - JAN 16, 2021

Performers: Trae Allen, Quentin Clark, Kelly M, Keia McGrady, Nadia Milford, Alyse Musk & Stef Palmer
Organist: Anna Briers
Performance Coordinator: Elif Temizkan

Photo: Sia Duff & Grant Hancock

SAMSTAG MUSEUM OF ART, ADELAIDE
JUL 7 - SEP 30, 2022

Curated by Gillian Brown

Performers: Jingwei Bu, Tailor Winston & Henry Wolff
Performance Coordinator: Sam Gold
Musicians: Dylan Crismani & Sebastian Collen

Photo: Andrea Rossetti

‘UN LAC INCONNU’
BALLY FOUNDATION, LUGANO
APR 20 - SEP 24, 2023

Curated by Vittoria Matarrese

An almost transparent installation, capturing and reflecting all the variations in colors and light emanating from the lake, 'Respire, Respire' proposes instruments of communication with our own body, which dialogue with the surrounding landscape at the same time. The study of rituals in different civilizations, led for a long time by Mel O‘Callaghan, often takes a deep desire for communion with the human and vegetable or mineral forms that inhabit our planet as a starting point, and makes them resonate with each other and within ourselves. Through a collection of sculptures, films, paintings, and performances, the artist often explores the immersive power of trance but also, paradoxically, this way of being able to go “outside oneself,” the limits of one’s own body, to reach a state of symbiosis with what surrounds us, just like memory, gesture, and transmission. Thus, facing the lake, these crystal capsules reflect, deform, and transform the space into almost liquid matter by playing with prisms of color. The shapes of the sculptures themselves, round, elongated, convex and concave, are freely inspired by the observation of extremophiles—underwater organisms thriving in so-called “extreme” conditions—which she also captures in the film ‘Centre of the Centre’ (2019), tracing the origins of life and its regenerating forces. Therefore, it is life that we are talking about here, above all. The titles of the works thus set the tone and dictate a rhythm. ‘Respire, Respire’ thinks about the foundation of all life and exposes breath, both as an elementary impulse and as a source of connection to the abundant depths. In collaboration with Sabine Rittner (associate researcher and music therapist at the Institute of Medical Psychology at the University Hospital of Heidelberg in Germany), the artist has imagined a performance based on inhalation and exhalation techniques, aiming to provoke joy or serenity, but also and above all to provoke altered states of consciousness and moments of meditation, ecstasy, or hallucination. In a crescendo of intensity, the work of art becomes global. The landscape opens and diaphragms too; the sound of the performer’s breaths pulsates through the works as well as the hearts of visitors.

Performers: Cristina Bernasconi, Chloé Bertini, Tommaso Cavalcanti, Samuel Puggioni & Sabine Rittner
Cellist: Nicollò Basile

Developed in collaboration with Sabine Rittner, research associate, Institute for Medical Psychology Center for Psychosocial Medicine Heidelberg University, Germany

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its funding and advisory body; and the Fondation des Artistes, France

RESPIRE, RESPIRE (2019)

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