Respiro

While discussing his own works, Sarkis speaks of where they are born and how their lives change as they are brought into new places. He explores the possibility of making his works reverberate to the present time. Each work is alive and has its own breath; each flourishes, expands, and transforms itself ceaselessly through new experiences. With its title that originates in the Latin verb spirare (to breathe) and means “breath” in Italian, Respiro instantly hints at its liveliness, its call for endlessness, and how it registers the passing of time through its own act of breathing. Respiro was born at Sarkis’ studio in Villejuif, Paris and found its first family at Arsenale in Venice by sharing the same ground and breath with another cast of works, including thirty-six stained-glass panes, fourteen glass jars of different colours, two gold-foiled chests, and a red glass plate, all glowing in the same space. Through its first-ever appearance in the Pavilion of Turkey at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015), "Respiro" – in Sarkis’ own words – took us “back to the beginning of time, back to the first-ever rainbow – the very first magical breaking point of light”.

Jacopo Baboni-Schilingi’s music – created for "Respiro" with inspiration from the lines of the neon rainbows – revolves around the space like a celestial sound.