Drawing Breath (2004 – 2006)
Drawing Breath is the name of a series of breath-responsive works developed with artist and interaction designer John Tonkin. A belt worn around the interactor’s chest relays breath-related changes in chest diameter to a computer that transforms these movements into a dense array of trailing 3D particles and breath-like noise textures.
Drawing Breath v.1 was exhibited in the group exhibition Asian Traffic (curated by Binghi Huangfu) at Gallery 4A (Sydney, Australia) in 2004. Drawing Breath v.2 was developed for cfor Gallery 4A and AsiaLink’sOpen Letter group exhibition celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Drawing Breath v.2 including a breath-activated spoken word soundtrack consisting of breath-phrases in Mandarin and English.
Drawing Breath: Triptych expands the Drawing Breath concept to allow upto three participants at a time to interact with their own breathing patterns, as revealed by the breath-sensing belts worn around each participant’s chest or abdomen. Drawing Breath: Triptych was exhibited in Strange Attractors group exhibition (curated by Antoanetta Ivanova), at Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China.
Drawing Breath v.2 as exhibited in Asian Traffic, Gallery 4A, 2005. Photo by George Khut.
Production credits
George (Poonkhin) Khut: concept and sound design
John Tonkin: JAVA software development, data analysis & visualisation (2004)
Exhibition dates
July 21–August 31, “Drawing Breath: Triptych”, in the group exhibition “Strange Attractors” (curated by Antoanetta Ivanova, Novamedia), Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China.
October 5-January 13, 2006, “Drawing Breath v.2” in the group exhibition “Open Letter” (curated by Binghui Huangfu for AsiaLink), NMetropolitan Museum, Manila, Philipines.
February 15–April 16, 2006, “Drawing Breath v.2” in the group exhibition “Open Letter” (curated by Binghui Huangfu for AsiaLink), National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
August 5-31, 2005, “Drawing Breath v.2” in the group exhibition “Open Letter” (curated by Binghui Huangfu for AsiaLink), National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand.
August 24-September 11, 2004, “Drawing Breath v.1” in the group exhibition “Asian Traffic: Phase 5” (curated by Binghui Huangfu), Gallery 4A, Sydney, Australia
Drawing Breath v.2 as exhibited in Asian Traffic, Gallery 4A, 2005. Photo by George Khut.
Supporting Organisations & Individuals
Drawing Breath: Triptych has been generously supported by the following organisations and individuals: the Australian Government through the Australia Council (New Media Arts Board, 2004) its arts funding and advisory body, John Tonkin, Novamedia (Antoanetta Ivanova), Zendai Museum of Modern Art, dLux Media Arts, and Angelo Fraietta (sensor hardware and signal engineering). Drawing Breath v.1 and v.2 has been supported by Gallery 4A, Asialink and the Song Company.