images by: Zan Wimberley
When do I breathe? 2024 by artist Lauren Brincat is a public performance shaping new paths through the streets of Randwick, connecting communities in collaborative action.
Connecting three sites of activation across UNSW Kensington and the hospital precinct, the performance will move through Randwick at sunset into twilight. Timed at the intersection between the end of a working day and the beginning of a working night, it brings together local communities that are often separated by different shifts and daily rhythms.
Led by a group of dancers and held together with members of the NSW Collegium Musicum Choir and NIDA students and alumni, the performance will guide audiences on a journey of orchestrated harmonies. The artwork’s title,When Do I Breathe, is inspired by the in-between breaths of the choir, and the composition reflects these sounds, sighs, pauses, breaks, rests, and moments of gathering before action.
Movement and song will animate a series of fabric sculptures, including a 100m, handwoven cotton gauze, providing a connective thread between the performers and the broader community. The sculptures will also feature elements inspired by forms of nonverbal communication,such as silk tell-tales—to mark the way the wind blows—or knot tying—an ancient form of storing information.
When do I breathe? is the result of a year-long engagement with local communities by the artist, offering an artistic response to the value of care in our society. A collective action as a form of resistance, the work aims to empower the community to come together and reclaim public space.
ARTWORK CREDITS:
Lead artist: Lauren Brincat
Choreographer: Charmene Yap
Composer: Evelyn Ida Morris
UNSW Choral Director: Sonia Maddock
Dancers: Jasmin Lancaster, Loulou Mitsis, Koko Mukaai, Angus Onley and Sam Osborn
Actors: Este Breytenbach, Jessica Carter, Lewis Defina, Lucy Dunning, Lillianne Lord, Connor Reilly, and Keenan Walker
Choir: UNSW Collegium Musicum Choir
Studio Producer: Sophie Willison
Studio Fabricator: Lisa Dwyer
Design: Mary Libro
Cinematographer: Gotaro Uematsu
Photographer: Zan Wimberley
Curator: Zoe Theodore
Commissioning Curator: Sophie Forbat
This initiative is funded by Transport for NSW’s Safer Cities program, which is investing $30 million over two years to help improve perceptions of safety in our cities and towns, particularly for women, girls and gender diverse people.
Proudly funded by the NSW Government in association with Transport for NSW and Create NSW.