Marking Breath. San Salvador. 11.02.2015 Sunrise – Sunset

Sophie Dupont’s Performance ‘Marking Breath’ explores the ritual repetition of the most important and simple action in life: breathing. With breathing as the starting point of the work the barrier between art and life is reduced. The work depends on breathing like the further existence does. Concentrating on this one single action for a long time creates a feeling of freedom: ‘When all I focus on is my breath, I override any thoughts on the superficial elements of our modern lives: status, economy, education etc’. The work is meditative and reductive in form and content exploring the discrete/invisible sign of presence and existence, breath, and transforming it into physical/visible marks. The duration of the performance is as usual from sunrise to sunset.
The performance contains no plot, no story, no narrative progression – only body, breath, marks and time. As every evanescent breath will be transformed into a physical mark on a material that relates to the specific country or place: copper, leather, zinc etc., this can be read as a proof of my existence on this specific day as well as a documentation of the performance.
The shapes of the marks will be characterized by spontaneity and deliberate imperfections, which reflect human nature and spirituality. The works will be similar but different, leading our minds to the small differences that inevitably occur even when we try to repeat and copy very simple actions.

Duration: Sunrise 6 am – Sunset 6 pm. Gold plated copper panel 25 x 25 cm. Venue: 11.02.2015 at Performance Festival; Forma y Sustancia in San Salvador.

The Mind ‘Marking Breath’ San Salvadore 11 February 2015 Sunrise 6 am – Sunset 6 pm. On a goldplated Copper plate 25 X 25 cm. In Casa Del La Cultura in San Salvador as part of the performance festival; Forma y Sustancia.

 

/ placing the first mark

/ listening to the birds

/ noticing the different way they sing

/ wonder how they look

/ thinking of the placing and spacing of the marks into the plate

/ my neck starts hurting

/ try to relax

/ wonder how long time has passed

/ try to rest in the action

/ the birds sing –its nice

/ listening to people in the street

/ wonder where they are going

/ what kind of day they will have today

/ smell food, breakfast

/ the table is too high

/ I think of space inside the body

/ how sometimes it feels tight inside

/ try to relax

/ notice people in the space

/ all the time the marking brings me into the present

/ when there is people I sense the new energy in the space

/ always a new person, a new energy

/ one sits down

/ I like this

/ we breath together

/ doing nothing

/ no talking

/ my performance is silent

/ being present in time and space together

/ I relax

/ don’t need to do anything else until sunset

/ no choices

/ more people come, they whisper

/ someone says hi

/ I’m silent

/ hope he understands

/ I need certain rules

/ we always need to have rules, it’s part of life

/ part of creating

/ the space expands

/ time stops

/ my marks become smaller, more intense

/ no birds singing

/ I only hear the noice of traffic and people talking

/ music starts. Mozart

/ I enjoy it so much

/ the music becomes a kind of nourishment

/ Impatient

/ like to stand up and walk

/ even if I did I would still be inside myself breathing

/ my neck hurts more

/ between the breaths I move my head and arms

/ it helps, I relax again

/ I think about the myth of Sisyfos

/ it’s life again, again, again and again

/ one breath, one more again, again and again

/ listening to the birds, again they are here

/ it’s very warm

/ thinking of placing and spacing the marks

/ will there be enough space

/ I don’t know the time

/ wonder how much has passed and how much is left

/ impatientness again

/ my neck hurts more again

/ between the breaths I move my head and arms

/ one man sits in the corner

/ he reads something from a lage booklet

/ he prays, holding it up

/ never looks at me

/ I enjoy his presence

/ he is serious

/ he coughs a lot

/ is he sick?

/ again my neck hurts more and more

/ again between the breaths I move my head and arms

/ I notice the sun has started to set

/ more traffic again

/ the smell of food

/ the noise of pots and pans

/ people are in the space

/ we breathe together

/ the light changes,

/ it’s warm

/ the temperature is nice again, cooler

/ I’m tired

/ people are talking outside

/ music is playing

/ I’m impatient

/ like to get up and walk

/ know it’s soon sunset

/ the man has left

/ once again my neck hurts more and more

/ once again between the breaths I move my head and arms

/ the marks have almost filled out the whole plate

/ I make them even smaller

/ time seems endless

/ I calm myself

/ I breathe

/ time expands, space expands

/ I can sit forever, the impatientness has left

/ only breath, inhales and exhales

/ my alarm rings

/ sunset

After the performance I was told the man sitting in the corner believed that if he breathed near me, he could change my breathing and thereby my reality.