The work was inspired the essay “What it is to breathe”(숨 쉰다는 것은 무엇인가) by Prof. Seo DongWook, Dept. Philosophy, Sogang University.


People inhale and exhale endlessly. We can stop thinking, but never can stop breathing. Breathing makes humans more human. This act of breathing happens with the confrontation with something alien. We get inspirations from others, we share influences with one another. People share breaths in a sense far beyond mere biological action. Just as the word ‘inspiration’ means to ‘breathe in’, sharing breaths makes people alive and circulates the whole. In this sight, breath is an action that blows spirit between people. Also in mythology, God breathed the breath of life into man's nostrils and the man became a living creature. Through breathing, people earn inspiration and energy.

'Life' is 'light'. Without the presence of light, no creature can survive. Sprout would not burst from the seed. Flowers would not blossom. And fruits would not become ripe. In this way, life only exists when there is light. Thus, breath is expressed by the use of light with the sculpture expanded with the spatial cell, to represent the lungs.

Artist Interview can be found here.

The code is designed to be simulate the breathing. The output brightness to LED strips brightens up and down wit the default maximum brightness. The maximum brightness calibrates accdording to the value read from the sensor input values.