Soh Souen has developed a body of thought and practice concerning “life,” taking the body as his point of departure. His work unfolds through a wide range of forms—including painting, installation, and performance—as well as through collaborative practices with others. For this exhibition, Souen traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he worked with people connected to Garage33 Gallery-Shelter, founded and run by artist Maria Kulikovska, to create a new work centered on the theme of “breathing.”

Breathing is a vital activity that begins the moment we are separated from the maternal body. Each breath enters and mingles with an atmosphere already filled with countless other breaths. Through the act of inhaling and exhaling, we allow the outside world to pass through our bodies, while subtly setting the air in motion and unsettling the boundaries between one body and another. By reconsidering breathing in this way, Souen finds within this fundamental act of life a will to resist the divisions of the world.

Attending closely to the people who have gathered at Garage33 after enduring harsh experiences amid the war, and to Kulikovska, whose artistic practice has long engaged the body as a medium, Souen listens to the sounds and vibrations of their breathing—their cold air drawn into the body, warmed within it, and released back into the atmosphere.

Through this exhibition, we hope that their breaths and those of the visitors will overlap and mingle, becoming, however subtly, an occasion to shift the currents of the world.