A museum has opened the world’s first-ever large-scale exhibition dedicated to breathing, including a special tribute to George Floyd.
A tribute to Floyd will show how his last words “I can’t breathe” became a slogan for civil rights campaigners around the world.
(Museum Wiesbaden, Dauerleihgabeaus Privatbesitz/Newsflash)
(Rijksmuseum Amsterdam/Newsflash)
The exhibition began at Guests at the Hamburger Kunsthalle museum in Hamburg, Germany on 30th September.
Depicting over a hundred artworks by 45 artists from 18 countries, the show named “Breathing” is expected to illustrate the socio-political and global relevance of the biological process.
The artworks should reportedly raise topics such as “breath as central biblical metaphor and an expression of our relationship to the world, onward to air pollution and respiratory illnesses, all the way to the Black Lives Matter movement (I can’t breathe).”
Museum curator Brigitte Kolle on Thursday: “On average, we breathe 23,000 times a day.
(David Zink Yi, Courtesy Hauser &Wirth und David Zink Yi/Newsflash)
“Breathing is mostly something invisible. We tried to capture the invisible.”
The show includes different art categories starting from paintings, sculptures and installations, to photography and drawing, to performance, video, film and sound pieces.
As reported, the show includes works by both Old Masters such as Hendrick ter Brugghen and David Teniers the Younger, as well as present-day international contemporary artists.
The museum revealed in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “Even in ancient times, Breathing was recognised as more than just air flowing in and out of the body.
“It is the vehicle of life, of thought, of inspiration, and in many world cultures, of the soul.
(VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022/Newsflash)
(Hamburger Kunsthalle, bpk/Newsflash)
“We often take breathing for granted in our everyday lives, only paying attention when it becomes difficult as a result of disease, climate change, pandemics or physical violence.”
Hamburger Kunsthalle also reflected on the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, who was killed by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer in the US city of Minneapolis on 25th May 2020.
The statement said: “The last words spoken by George Floyd in 2020, ‘I can’t breathe’, have become virtually synonymous with racist and institutional violence.”
The exhibition can be visited until Sunday, 15th January 2023.
(Private, Courtesy the artist and Nature Morte, Delhi/Newsflash)
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Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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