Paris_installation detail_the air between us_cecilia white 2014

Paris_installation detail_the air between us_cecilia white 2014

On Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 February 2014  at the Cite’ internationale des arts in Paris Cecilia White performed her latest work ‘breathing space: the air between us‘. This interdisciplinary performance and installation explores how we remember self and other through time and space. She notes – the first word we forget is ‘to breathe’ – an infinitive, an open space, timeless…

breath_paris_cecilia white_low res

 

Her work begins with the question: How many sides does air have?

 

 

blind drawings_Paris_cecilia white_low res

 

And what is the space between our connection?

ch-airs_cecilia white 2014

ch-airs_cecilia white 2014

 

 

 

 

theairbetween us_still_cecilia white 2014

theairbetween us_still_cecilia white 2014

The breath is often forgotten, ignored or misjudged. The same may be said for our connections to self and other, to the in(de)finite. This work investigates the (im)material relationship – the self and other registering connection and its in(de)finite nature.

‘I recall the first two sentences taught to me at the Alliance Francaises in Sydney were: je suis desole’(e) and je suis perdu(e). They were intended as markers to signal a need to shift connection between a non-French speaker (me) and a French speaker. They also bring to mind the many other ways we are lost or sorry. Or sometimes want to be. These two sentences become a part of our lives, spaces or rooms we (de)(re)construct to house relationship. I wonder how we register that air between us. How many sides does air have? It’s colour and sound? To be lost suggests a hope to be found, to be sorry suggests loss. There is space between ‘lost’ and ‘loss’ where threads of language register our breath, as in Georges Perec’s novel “La vie: mode d’emploi”. Language in its many forms sews threads of experience and material together. In that way it may simultaneously reveal the immaterial, the unknowable – spaces of tenderness, change, storm. And beyond words, there is time and space – that often fleeting, yet sometimes familiar Bachelardian place where we breathe – and in itself is a breathing space. Remember…’

you_cecilia white 2014

you_cecilia white 2014

Location: Studio 2053 between 6 – 10pm each evening for two durational performances and breathing space.

Performance: sound, body, text

Installation: various

 

book of o_cecilia white 2014

book of o_cecilia white 2014

 

registering the air_cecilia white 2014

registering the air_cecilia white 2014

 

 

 

book of o_pers nne_cecilia white 2014

book of o_pers nne_cecilia white 2014

the air between us_cecilia white_2014

the air between us_cecilia white_2014

 

Logo_50èmeThis event was part of the Open Studios program of the Cite’ internationale des arts.