Abstract

A Breathe represents first and last. A shared moment, an intimate one. A moment that is compressed, fleeting, and everchanging. A breathe can represent a lifespan, an inhale, an exhale. It can mean seconds, days, weeks months, an ephermal encounter, shared and significant.

‘Breathing Publics’ is a programmed pavilion concept designed to encourage meaningful interaction between St Paul Street visitors, in particular creatives and students alike. This begins with the intimate form of breathing.

The entrance to the ‘Speaking Surfaces’ exhibition establishes itself as a dynamic pavilion, creating a viewing, resting and performing space. Visitors are then encouraged to inhabit the exhibition from outside the galleries, or bestow conversation and consciousness upon fellow dwellers. My design is a place where connections are matured through the medium of mutual presence; by way of discussions and further discoveries of the space as it breathes and circulates around the mixed publics within.

The materiality of timber and silk textiles allow movement and flow across the entrance to the galleries, breathing life into the pavilion as well as the Arts and Design building. Therefore, intimately developed connections will form among artists and students within the threshold to the building, as the space adapts and morphs over the three month exhibition.

My design invites engagement and gesture, by enabling the visitors to have a sense of control through shifting public space, resonating with the expansion and compression motions of breathing. Through the actions of curators, artists and public, communities are formed and activated to indulge in a conflict between public and private space.