"This is our world how and why are we doing this? Just stop and think about his for a moment. Just think how serious this is. If we don’t stop this, then suddenly, you won’t be able to breathe. I know that this is quite a serious thing, and that we should stop this now."—Cassidy Scoones, 10 years old.
We are all breathing the same. The Living Archive of Breath – a branch of the People Library – is an audio-walk that invites witnessing air, atmosphere, breath and cosmology in relation.
Choreographer Carol Brown, sound artist Russell Scoones and performers Neža Jamnikar and Tia Reihana, led audience on a journey from the Wanaka Arts Centre to the Lake edge. A soundscape, listened to through headphonics, of stories, sounds and interviews emerging from the Company’s collaboration with atmospheric research scientists at NIWA’s Lauder Station, becomes increasingly insistent. Neẑa, on a distant pontoon, and Tia in the lake, move in and out of rhythm with each other and in dialogue with the movement of air, clouds, awa (river) and maunga (mountain). Their gestures call the audience to see-feel the depth of the sky. They signal to maunga and awa, evoking the presence of hau (breath of life). In this re-scaling, mapping gestures, the performers propose that we read them as barometers of change and that we are deeply entangled with the weather. As receivers and transmitters, their actions register and communicate simultaneously, the state we are in, reinforced by the voices listened to on headphonics. This sensate experience invites listening to the stories of our aerial bloodstream from a unique Central Otago perspective. It is a call to action and a climate lament.
We are all breathing the same. The Living Archive of Breath – a branch of the People Library – is an audio-walk that invites witnessing air, atmosphere, breath and cosmology in relation.
Choreographer Carol Brown, sound artist Russell Scoones and performers Neža Jamnikar and Tia Reihana, led audience on a journey from the Wanaka Arts Centre to the Lake edge. A soundscape, listened to through headphonics, of stories, sounds and interviews emerging from the Company’s collaboration with atmospheric research scientists at NIWA’s Lauder Station, becomes increasingly insistent. Neẑa, on a distant pontoon, and Tia in the lake, move in and out of rhythm with each other and in dialogue with the movement of air, clouds, awa (river) and maunga (mountain). Their gestures call the audience to see-feel the depth of the sky. They signal to maunga and awa, evoking the presence of hau (breath of life). In this re-scaling, mapping gestures, the performers propose that we read them as barometers of change and that we are deeply entangled with the weather. As receivers and transmitters, their actions register and communicate simultaneously, the state we are in, reinforced by the voices listened to on headphonics. This sensate experience invites listening to the stories of our aerial bloodstream from a unique Central Otago perspective. It is a call to action and a climate lament.
Carol Brown's surprisingly spiritual audio-walk to the lake […] earns the best bravery award for the staunch dancer actually in the water
—Zega, N. (2019). NZSO Presents a Fitting Finale to Grand Festival. Otago Daily Times.
Choreography—Carol Brown
Sound Design—Russell Scoones
Performers—Tia Reihana, Neža Jamnikar
Commissioned By—Festival of Colour Wanaka with support from the University of Auckland FRDF Fund
