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

Shirazeh Houshiary and Pip Horne's Breath imbues the cool formality of minimalist sculpture with spirituality and human presence. The twenty-foot tall tower of white enameled brick is shaped like a double helix and conceals a sound system that emits a low sequence of four spiritual vocal tracks from dawn until dusk each day. Anchored by a humming bass, the continuous 18-minute loop of interwoven invocations includes the Azan, the Islamic call to prayer; a Jewish tribute to the invisible god; tonal breathing exercises of Buddhist monks; and "O Jerusalem," a historical Christian work by 12th-century composer Hildegard Von Bingen. The sound, seeming to expand and contract in intensity, conveys a sense of inhalation and exhalation. Breath's slow spiral further underscores the sense of perpetual motion, defying the potential stasis of sculpture. Finally, the column recalls downtown skyscrapers, twisted baroque pillars, Islamic decorative tile, and, with its multitude of voices, the Tower of Babel.

Since Houshiary and Horne use the collective melodic range and diverse languages in the songs of prayer to gesture towards basic similarities in humanity. Prayers spanning far-flung cultures, geographies, and ideologies are placed in close proximity in the looped religious track. With Breath, Houshiary and Horne use the form of the physical code for life and a rhythmic, meditative sound component to unite diverse religious traditions, a pointed statement in a time of misguided religious zeal and fractured globalism.