Death and Life of the Image

(Performance + New Media)

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In this project, breathing becomes the central element of the performance. Through the rhythm of my breath, I explore the existence of my own image and its relationship with life and death. My breathing controls both the audio and the projected video, transforming a vital and involuntary act into a mechanism that activates and alters the image.

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The performance unfolds in five stages: memory of the image, loss of consciousness of the image, delirium of the image, agony of the image, and death of the image. Each stage consists of twenty-five breaths. With every breath, the audio gradually decreases in bit depth, while the projected video image beside my bed undergoes subtle transformations.

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Through this process, the breath becomes a temporal measure of the image’s life cycle—its emergence, distortion, and eventual disappearance.

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“The breath is the most precious thing that the human being possesses, especially at the end, and this last breath is preserved, turned into an image. But how can breath become an image?”
— Elias Canetti