Shirazeh Houshiary & Pip Horne, Breath
May 4, 2004 - April 3, 2005

In the beginning was the word, the word became flesh

Gospel of St John

Conceived as an ellipse in plan the glazed brick tower turns around itself one full rotation creating a double helix and reminding us of the structure of genetic material for life. Sounds resonate from within the chamber of the tower from dawn to dusk.

At first inaudible especially from a distance, the humming of a bass, growing and fading over and over gradually moves into one's awareness transmitted from the roots of the column. Anchored in different cultures and religions the invocations interweave. As the Azan, the Islamic call to prayer recedes, a Jewish song gains presence. Its retreat in turn is followed by exhalations of Buddhist monks and then "O Jerusalem" by Hildegard Von Bingen marks the Christian presence in a composition united and divided only by breathing and its pause. Woven into similar musical pattern Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Christian voices remind us of the interconnectedness of all cultures and life and all things in the universe.

Shirazeh Houshiary + Pip Horne