AIR (a score for breath)
AIR (a score for breath) was performed in collaboration with Clae Rountree, Kyoko Kitamura, and Steven Gonzalez at Columbia University, Butler Library, in conjunction with the exhibition CONTEXT: Art, Books, & Freedom (Sept 11, 2025 - May 29, 2026) curated by Meg Hitchcock.
In music notation, a breath mark is a symbol for a performer to take a breath or to make a slight pause, similar to the comma in many written languages. The score for this performance was created by extracting commas from the Amendments of the United States Constitution.
The commas from these pages were hand drawn on vellum for the performers to hold and interpret, as a collective sounding, a chorus of breath. Each performer was invited to locate the embodied experience of this text over time — whose breaths have been heard, whose have been silenced, what are the sounds that emerge in between?
It was performed in two parts in Butler Library, beginning in the gallery space of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, then continuing to the circular atrium entrance, interacting with the charged space that has been the site of both learning and protest.
Performers held paper megaphones created from enlarged pages from the US Constitution, amplifying breath in the space to create an intimate exchange with listeners and passersby in the space.
Score, costumes, and megaphones were created by Audra Wolowiec. Interpretation and vocal performances by Clae Rountree, Kyoko Kitamura, and Steven Gonzalez.
This performance was supported by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. Special thanks to Courtney Chartier, Director of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Photography by Clay Maxwell Jordan.
April 2026