Breathe and Be
A Mini Art Adventure in the City
If you are a regular or if you have landed on Tarantula: Authors and Art for the very first time, get ready to enjoy making some art! Our contributor, Karen Grace, an art teacher and historian, will take you through a gallery walk and a little painting activity - we hope you’ll give it a try. If a friend forwarded you this article, welcome; if you like it, share it or why not subscribe?
Oh summertime! I do love the way the world seems larger in the summer months. The city is the same exact place it was in the depths of winter, but the new light transforms it into a space to linger in. Doors and windows are open, the best eating is done outside, and even the museums expand to fill their courtyards and terraces. Flowers everywhere spill from urns and boxes. Fountains offer water dancing with sunlight that dazzles the senses and never fails to draw me in for a closer look. It’s these little shifts I enjoy most.
Here at Tarantula we are spending the month with Nina Buesing and her photography of mindful family road-tripping. While I don’t have a Grand Canyon adventure on the docket this summer I can still find connections here closer to home - Buesing’s work asks us to slow down and appreciate the little things - to soak up the magic of childhood joy and wonder. I can think of no better complement (or perhaps preamble) to accomplish this than a walk through Jeppe Hein’s current exhibit at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
Danish artist Jeppe Hein, who playfully introduces himself at the start of the exhibit as 80% water and 20% chocolate, regularly examines themes of happiness and well-being with mirrors, water, and movement. Hein interweaves his artwork with his yoga and meditation practices and asks: What does happiness look like? Disarmingly simple, his works tend to produce a pause, a perspective shift, and a smile in his viewers. It is likely impossible to view his creations with a dour demeanor. His participatory exhibit at Stockholm’s modern art museum this summer turned out to be a great place for a little introspection and spontaneous happiness generation.
The exhibit, Who Are You Really? (Vem är du egentligen?) is unlike any other exhibit I’ve ever visited in that there’s not really any art on the walls or statues to stare at. Instead, you’re invited to send your gaze inward while you participate in a series of small workshops (involving both exploring your own inner self and building community among the others in the exhibit alongside you) and participate in your own mark-making as well.
Hein created the exhibit onsite – a series of rainbow-colored rooms that correspond to the seven chakras, each one asking you a simple question of yourself and your relationship to those around you. You walk into a candy-colored room and you’re asked to take deep breaths, buzz like a bee, feel your heartbeat, or look deeply into someone’s eyes and ask... Who are you really? Slow down and tell your neighbor. Listen to them as well. How do you feel? What do you do, see, understand? It’s so simple really, just let your guard down and be present with those around you. Think a little about what makes you you, and in turn you consider what makes them them. You’re even provided with a little booklet in which to collect your reflections. My first visit was together with a group of friends and we enjoyed our experience immensely! Engaging in the workshops we learned new things about ourselves and each other.
Outside, in front of the museum, the sound of water splashing and people laughing draws you into a fountain – little walls of water that rise and fall, letting you in when they drop, and then holding you in place when they raise again moments later. It’s like a moving labyrinth! While you’re stuck inside all you can do is give up control and accept being right there – inside the fountain. Right here, right now.
On my first visit to the exhibit, I was able to participate in the “Breathe with Me” portion – a winding wall of white plywood where visitors were invited to paint their breath in bold blue strokes on the wall with everyone else. My breath only took seconds, starting at the top and painting downwards continuously as I exhaled slowly, a moment of concentration and of community – and then it was saved, in a sense, as a tangible mark collected with hundreds or thousands of other breaths together into a monument to mindful attention.
On my most recent visit, I took my son along for company, and he loved it too. We went through each of the color rooms and had fun with all the activities. The children’s versions of the workshops are especially playful: we sang, drew our faces, roared like lions, stared deeply into each other’s eyes, and each led the other around with our eyes closed. We told each other what we love about ourselves and what we wish we would say more often. And we laughed and laughed! The fountain was of course a favorite on this hot and sunny day. Since we could no longer paint our breath on the wall, we made our own version together with watercolors and paper that I brought along. A magical mom-and-boy afternoon adventure.
These breath paintings gave me a wonderful idea... clearly these need to become postcards to send to our far-away loved-ones. I love postcards, museum postcards especially (thank you Gretchen Rubin for helping me think about why), but these are extra special and not for sale in the gift shop! A souvenir that captures the essence of a summer day, of the experience of being there, of our own breath. If you would like to make your own, just make sure to use nice thick watercolor paper so it will absorb the water and have a hope of getting through the mail intact. I started with half sheets of Canson cold-press watercolor paper but most brands sell watercolor postcard blocks for just such a purpose.
Then my son and I just painted, one stripe after another, starting at the top and painting a line as long as our exhale. Then inhale and start back again at the top of the paper. You’ll get the hang of it quickly, I promise. We started with the same bright blue Jeppe Hein used but any color would do - in fact I’m planning to try these again soon with the colors of the landscape and see where that goes.
Please don’t despair if you are not able to get to Stockholm to take in this exhibition yourself. The Moderna has a series of videos that can lead you through the whole process from the comfort of home on their website. Also, I recommend seeking out some of the many other Jeppe Hein installations around the world. He currently has a similar fountain at none other than Rockefeller Center if you happen to be in NYC, a “Mirrored Labyrinth” at the North Carolina Museum of Art, some cool benches and balloons at La Guardia Airport, and a hallway at Copenhagen Airport just to mention a few.
Or perhaps, find a fountain, a beach, or a bench outside where the breeze blows through the trees. See if you can sit for a few minutes and just breathe. I wonder, what is it that makes you smile about summer?
Loooove this. Like reading a delight.
wonderful journey. The photos are real joy