Throughout her life, Sophie Dupont has sought to assimilate and internalize a way of thinking that engages all levels of her being. It is a personal approach, an intimate experience that she shares with us today in her humble and profound work. With this work, she invites the visitor to make an inner journey. A plunge into the secret mysteries of being. For Sophie Dupont, it is not a matter of translating a form of the great beyond. Nor is it a matter of simply producing a message or work from dogmatic speech. She rather seeks to perceive the music of the world. It is, therefore, from the angle of the intimate confidence and the sharing that this work should be understood. For the simple reason that the ensemble constituting Marking Breath crosses, at different points of reference, the existential, the temporal, and the geographical.Sophie Dupont’s approach encourages us to consider life in the light of our breath, for only this awareness – of our body and mind – gives, according to the artist, meaning to our existence. The breath that we all share is natural and unconscious and gives rhythm to life. Respiration inhabits the human body; it sets it in motion. It is an infinite to- and-from movement. It is also a link between interiority and exteriority. With each inhalation, man absorbs his external environment. With each expiration, man releases his inner environment to the exterior. Outside becomes inside and vice versa. Respiration links man to his environment, but it also links the body to the mind. Body respiration. Psychic breathing. The unity of body and mind becomes, by breathing, a tangible reality. An indivisible whole. A consciousness where everything is present. Extract from text by Mouna Mekouar
Marking Breath 26-3-2020
Sunrise 5.55- sunset 18.36 Curated by Therese Maria Gram at Vennepunkt. Cph.
In the light of the previous months’ global events and recent weeks and days of intensification, where we are all challenged in our usual actions and in our everyday, you are invited to participate in Sophie Dupont’s performance Marking Breath, in the safety of your home or wherever you may be located.
During March 26th, from sunrise to sunset, Sophie Dupont will mark every one of her breaths on a copper plate. The work will be a record of this exact day and will be a celebration of what we all have in common: life and breath. As a tribute to those who have lost their lives and those affected in every way imaginable, Sophie Dupont will sit alone in silence and mark her breath all day long. For the first time, this performance, previously performed in Mexico, USA, Guatamala, Costa Rica, Norway, England, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and in Sweden, will be live streamed over YouTube. We invite you to join and if so desired turning your cameras towards yourself and film your own markings of breath, in silence, on whatever material available. You can send the footage to us and we will post it on youtube as a global celebration of this day where we all drew our breaths, celebrated existence and joined together as a community.
Text & Photo by Therese Maria Gram
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Marking Breath. NYC. 8 Nov 2019. Sunrise 6.31-sunset 16.44.
Photos by Ella Weber
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Marking Breath. NY. 19 October 2019. Sunrise-sunset
Nars Foundation. Sunrise 7.10 – sunset 18.11. Copper Lungs
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Marking Breath with Excavator. 12 April 2019.
The performance is part of a group exhibition at Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art; Drawing Attention curated by Maria Finn and Peter Host Henckel.
Photos by Brittany Laura Overgaard. Video by Brittany Laura Overgaard & Rine Rodin
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Costa Rica. San José. 23.2.2019. Sunrise to Sunset
Copper. Sunrise 6 am – sunset 6 pm. Part of the festival Forma y Sustancia. Parque Central de San José.
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Marking Breath exhaling Lovesongs. Gl. Hellerup Gymnasium. 2019.
10 January 2019
Video by Rine Rodin
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Marking Breath. Casa Wabi. 2018. Mexico.
At my stay in the residency Casa Wabi, I worked with different groups of the community introducing ways of notate the simple act of inhalations and exhalations. I put the act of breathing – an action that unites us all – at the centre of the work. It marks the passage of time through mutual, hieratic, and silent contemplation. I invites the viewer to participate, the work becomes an experience of simultaneous presence that takes the form of “breath-sharing” in the Marking Breath performance. Not to align them in the same cadence, but to observe their irregular, informal, and singular qualities from person to person.
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Marking Breath, Exhaling Lovesongs. UANL. Mexico
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Marking Breath. 18, 19 & 21 January sunrise – sunset 2018
Marking Breath on aluminium 100 x 66 cm at LES GENS HEUREUX. Part of group show;
HOW TO START AN APARTMENT IN YOUR GALLERY curated by Mikkel Carl
18 januar : 8.24 – 16.15
19 januar : 8.23 – 16.17
21 januar : 8.20 – 16.21
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Marking Breath. Svalbard. 16 Sep 2017. Sunrise 5.45am-Sunset 7.54pm
Marking Breath on reindeer skin in the Arctic Longyearbyen, Svalbard 16 Sep 2017 Sunrise 5.45am- Sunset 7.54pm
part of Arctic Action 2017
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Marking Breath. Overgaden. 21-10-2017
From sunrise 7:52 am to sunset 5:56 pm
Sandstone from Bornholm.
Fotos: Therese Maria Gram.
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Marking Breath. Guatemala City. 25.2.2017. Sunrise 6.26-Sunset 6.07
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Marking Breath. Bornholm.18 June 2016.
Sunrise 4.19 am – Sunset 9.44 pm. Material: Gold panel, the seize of my hand 10 x 20 cm.
Venue: The Peoples’s meeting ‘Folkemødet’ on Bornholm (Democracy in the open air! The People’s Meeting in Allinge is Denmark’s festival about the society’s opportunities and challenges).
Curated by The Danish Association of Art Centers.
Photo by Rine Rodin
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Marking Breath. 25 November 2015. Rio de Jeneiro. Brazil.
Sunrise 5.59pm- Sunset 7.21 pm. Unirio. Gold panel postcard-seize 10 x 15 cm.
Photos & Video by Carolina Vilela. Video Editing by Rine Rodin.
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Midtfyns Amstgymnasium Performance Marking Breath. 2 October 2015.
Midtfyns Amstgymnasium Performance Marking Breath,2 October 2015. 10:20 am – 11:40 am
Commissioned by The Danish Arts Foundation
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Marking Breath, AGALAUS, Voss, Norway. 29 May 2015.
Sunrise 04:23am- sunset 10.42pm
Venue: AGALAUS. Curator: Therese Maria Gram. Photos by Therese Maria Gram. Film editing Christine Løkkebø.
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Marking Breath, Saturday 18 April 2015, 5:57 am – 8:02 pm (sunrise to sunset), performed at NEW STUDIO, London. Silver postcard seize panels. Photos by Lorna Milburn.
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Marking Breath. Miami. 24 February. 2015.
Sunrise 6.56 am – Sunset 6.09 pm. Gold plated copper plate. 25 x 25 cm. Venue: Frost Art Museum, Miami. Video editing by Christine Løkkebø.
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Marking Breath. San Salvador. 11.02.2015 Sunrise – Sunset
Sunrise 6 am – Sunset 6 pm. Gold plated copper panel 25 x 25 cm. Venue: 11.02.2015 at Performance Festival; Forma y Sustancia in San Salvador.
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Marking Breath. Silver. Dunkers. Helsingborg. Sweden. 25 October 2014.
Sunrise 8.01 am – Sunset 5.45 pm. On Sterling Silver Plate, Letter Format 30,5 x 21,5 cm. Venue: Dunkers Kulturhus. Nordisk Salon. Helsingborg. Sweden. Video editing : Arendse Krabbe.
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Marking Breath. Gold 18 Carat.1 mm. CHART’14. 29 – 30 August.
29 of August 1 pm – 8 pm. 30 August 11 am – 6 pm. 31 August 11 am – 5 pm. 3 Plates of 18 caret gold 23 x 10 cm Venue : CHART 2014. Charlottenborg. Copenhagen.
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Marking Breath. Silver. 17th of July 2014. Sunrise 4.49 am – Sunset 9.41 pm.
Sunrise 4.49 am – Sunset 9.41 pm. Sterling silver plate 30 x 30 cm. Venue: ApArt. Copenhagen. Denmark.
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Marking Breath. Copper. ApArt. Copenhagen. Denmark. 13 June 2014.
13 June 2014. Copper plate 30 x 30 cm. Sunrise 4.27 am – Sunset 9.55 pm. Venue: ApArt. Copenhagen. Denmark.
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Marking Breath. Gallery Factory. Seoul. 23 May. 2014
Sunrise 5.16 am – Sunset 7.41 pm. Zinc plate 30 x 21 cm. Venue: Gallery Factory.Seoul, Korea. Photos & video by Jiwon Kim.
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Marking Breath New York 7-9 March 2014
7-9 March 12 – 7pm. On 3 plates of Copper 25,5 x 20,5 cm. Venue: Grace Exhibition Space at Fountaion Art Fair.
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Marking Breath Puerto Plata 24-2-2014
Sunrise 7.06 – Sunset 18.46. On Sterling Silver Plate, Letter Format 30 x 21,5 cm. Venue The Dominican Republic Performance Festival: Independence.
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Marking Breath.21 November 2013.Contem. Art Center Nikolaj.
Sunrise 7.56 am – Sunset 3.54 pm. On Copper Plate like the ones at Nikolaj’s roof 52 x 32 cm. Venue: Contemporary Art Center Nikolaj
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Marking Breath. 11 October 2013. New Shelter Plan. Cph. DK
11 October 2013 Sunrise 7.34 am – Sunset 6.18. Leather & Copper. Leather=my seize 178 x 43 cm.. Venue: New Shelter Plan. Cph. DK
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Marking Breath. 7 August 2013. Mexico City.
Sunrise 7.15 am – Sunset 8.09 pm. Copper Plate Mexican Letter Format 28 x 22 cm Venue: SOMA Open Studio
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Marking Breath. Zink Plate. 20 April 2013. New York City
Marking Breath. Zink Plate 15 x 22,5 cm. 20 April 2013. Sunrise 6.09 am – Sunset 7.40 pm. New York City
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Marking Breath. 2011.Performance at Fifth Floor.Cph. Denmark
Sunrise – Sunset . Pencil On Wall. Venue: 48 hour performance at Fith Floor. Photos Nynne Blak.
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