Shirazeh Houshiary

Breath

55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Collateral Events

Torre di Porta Nuova, Arsenale Nord
1 giugno - 24 novembre
h. 10 – 18, chiuso lunedì (esclusi 3 giugno e 18 novembre)
Organizzazione: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation

"I set out to capture my own breath, to find the essence of my own experience transcending name, nationality, cultures" Shirazeh HoushiaryFor her presentation as a Collateral Event of the 55th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Shirazeh Houshiary presents Breath, a four channel video that was first conceived in 2003, in a remastered version and as part of a unique, site-specific installation.In Breath (2012-13), the evocative chants of Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Islamic prayers emanate from four video screens. The sound is choreographed with images that capture the expanding and contracting breath of the vocalists. The installation takes the form of a rectangular enclosure clad in black felt, which is entered through a narrow passage that leads to a dimly lit white interior. There are four screens hung at eye level from which the chants of the different traditions rise and fall, swell and dissipate in a haunting chorus that fills the room and permeates beyond each of its walls.

Where inside there is unity, outside is multiplicity.Inspired by the history, location and scale of La Torre, Houshiary envisioned a structure – an enclosure swathed in heavy cloth, its presence constituted by an act of veiling – in which to house the animation. The structure appears as a haunting presence within the Tower's vaulted interior, acting to both capture and coalesce the disparate invocations of the vocalists, and also to isolate and extract them: projecting the sounds into the wider space. Houshiary has reconceived the work so that it inhabits and transforms the Tower, and at the same time, asks that the work be shaped by the specificity of the space: a Tower that is the gateway to the Arsenale, a boundary and a threshold.The exhibition also comprises a suite of new paintings shown alongside the awe-inspiring diptych Between (2010-2011): the largest work on canvas that Houshiary has produced to date.The version of Breath presented at La Torre has been kindly lent by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Sponsor: Lisson Gallery Special Events: Thu, May 30 | 11am - 2 pm Press and Vip Preview

Artists:
Shirazeh Houshiary

Open:Saturday, 01 June 2013
Close:Sunday, 24 November 2013
Address: Arsenale, Torre di Porta Nuova
Opening hour:10am - 6pm
Closing day:Mondays (except for June 3 and November 18)
Admission:Free

Transport: Lines 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, Bacini or Celestia; shuttle from Arsenale-Press Office Biennale to Arsenale Nord every ten minutes

Photo credits:Breath, 2003, Four-channel video, Installation view, Lisson Gallery, London, 2004, Collection of MOMA, New York and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photograph by Dave Morgan. Image courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery; Shirazeh Houshiary, Between, 2010-11, Pencil, pigment and black acquacryl on canvas and aluminium, 190 x 540 cm (diptych) – detail, Photograph by Dave Morgan, Image courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery; Shirazeh Houshiary, Between, 2010-11, Pencil, pigment and black acquacryl on canvas and aluminium, 190 x 540 cm (diptych) – detail. Photograph by Dave Morgan.

Image courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery | Shirazeh Houshiary, Breath, 1 June - 24 November 2013, La Torre di Porta Nuova, Arsenale Nord, Venezia, Collateral Event of the 55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Sponsored by Lisson Gallery: www.lissongallery.com