Decem Aspirare (Ten to Breathe) is a site-specific sculpture that
breathes. The artwork was
commissioned by United Therapeutics Corporation for the atrium of its new
building in Silver Spring, Maryland.
It is based on the bronchi, the organs that feed air into the lungs, and
the lungs themselves. These
anatomical elements have been transformed into a self-sustaining organic
breathing system much like that which maintains the human and animal
populations of the earth. The
resulting sculpture is a biomorphic construction, which appears to exist
independently as a living organism.
The following is an interview by art historian Steffany Martz.
Martz: How did the
commission come about?
Armstrong: United Therapeutics
Corporation (UTC) is a biotechnology company focused on the development and
commercialization of unique products to address the unmet medical needs of
patients with chronic and life-threatening conditions. It began as a company to develop a drug
to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare and fatal disease that
is caused when the artery between the heart and lungs is damaged. When UTC decided to build a new
building, Creative Director Bill Rock felt this progressive and innovative
biotech company should have an atrium sculpture that related to its history and
future.
Martz:
Please describe Decem Aspirare.
Armstrong:The sculpture is made of
ten forms consisting of translucent fabric stretched over stainless steel
tubing. The fabric has been
painted and dyed with very thin layers of acrylic paint. Eight of the forms have visible
interior breathing bags connected to hoses that rhythmically transfer air to
and from concealed blowers. The
blowers are timed so that the forms continually change breathing patterns in
relation to one another. Because
the lines of tubing and hose can be seen through the overlays of translucent
fabric, the sculpture is also, in effect, a drawing that traces the movement of
the breath through the space.
Martz: Is this
your first breathing sculpture?
Armstrong: I created my first breathing sculpture in 1982 for “The Sound
Corridor,” a group exhibition at PS1 in New York City. The idea came from a drawing. I translated the lines and points on
paper into copper pipes connected to hoses. The hoses were connected to a blower unit installed behind a
sheetrock wall. Air moved through
the copper tubes onto the viewer.
The airflow was the sound, and the hoses and blower became a breathing
unit. This work was the first in my Airplayer
series, multi-media installations created between 1982 and 1992. The movement of air as the major
component of human sustenance and life support has carried forward in my
artwork. Starting in the early 1990s the breathing works became individual
pieces. Decem Aspirare, however, is a site-specific installation.
Martz:
Please talk about your process for Decem
Aspirare.
Armstrong: The primary requirements
for the sculpture were quite specific.
It had to be large enough to hold the space and it had to deal with the
bronchi. I began by working with the
biological shapes of these organs in order to arrive at the abstract forms that
would carry the breath. I also
decided on a translucent fabric for the forms’ outer skin so that an interior breathing
shape would be visible. And, I
calculated that ten forms would be needed to create the required mass. The atrium is a very long, narrow space
with curved walls and multiple levels. The exterior wall and two entrances are
predominantly glass. I made
preliminary decisions keeping the physical properties of the space in
mind. I was also concerned that
the forms connect harmoniously as they move through the space, becoming a
dynamic element of the space. I
then built a model. Building a
model helped me grasp the boundaries of the space and the physical placement of
the forms within the space. It
also allowed me to mark the distant views and perspectives of the atrium space
while in my studio. The final form
of the sculpture could not be determined until installation, because the
routing of the hoses could only be done on site after the forms were suspended. The ceiling could then be factored in
as a constraint.
Armstrong: I had a revelation one day
on the subway returning home to Queens.
I started looking at my fellow passengers. Everyone had a distinctly different appearance (Queens has
more diversity than any other area in the US – each day one hundred fifty
languages are spoken here). I then
looked at my own hands and took a photo.
That was it – the abstract pattern formed by these moving hands of many
colors gave me the idea for the colors of the outer fabric skins. Very quickly I photographed the hands
of the great team working on the sculpture – an art major from Taiwan, a design
consultant from Hong Kong, a seamstress from Ecuador, an engineer from Queens
and a Peruvian restaurateur who generously offered temporary gallery space for
the sculpture. The resulting
photos provided the basis for the colors used.
Martz: Were there any special issues for this artwork?
Armstrong: A major issue was that all
materials had to be fireproof and able to stand the stress of breathing between
twelve to twenty-four hours a day. The hardware for hanging the sculpture and the connections
between the hose, the interior bag and the form were also issues. All had to be light, delicate and very
secure. Next, how were these
industrial materials going to be treated to suggest an organic mystery? This sculpture needed to appear
alive. I modified a white
translucent stretch fabric by a process of dying and painting the fabric
multiple times. The interior
breathing bags were painted with sponges to look like cellular composites with
veins running through them.
The breathing system directly references the bronchi and lungs, and by
extension other organic systems such as the ocean whose waves continuously
saturate the sand and then recede.
The hoses became the lines of a drawing in space. They have small support tubes in the
covering providing a linear structure for the sculpture. They are the connectors, the feeders,
the roots, the blood system and the umbilical support for the breathing
forms. These organic systems,
always in flux, are the life around us – from the micro to the macro.
Steffany Martz holds a Masters of Philosophy from the Graduate Center
of the City University of New York where she is a P.H.D. candidate in Art History.
Her B.A. in English is from Vassar College. She is also a graduate of the
Christie’s New York Art Course. Before opening her contemporary
gallery
in Soho in 1995, Martz worked as a news writer, for NBC, ABC, and the BBC
in
London. In 1997, she moved her gallery to Chelsea, where it thrived for three
successful years. Presently she is consulting on numerous art projects.
