From 12:00 pm on the weekend of Saturday June 27th until Sunday June 28th the artist Roberta Paul had a 24 hour exhibition titled “breathe” which Beth Kantrowitz of BKprojects curated at Carroll and Sons in Boston, Massachusetts.

This pop-up installation consisted of a body of work that Paul created incorporating two distinct elements. The first involved a series of pieces that embraced the conceptual idea of the word “Breathe” as the primary component of each work. For Paul, Breathe emerged as a very succinct metaphor for the simple act of being. The second element comprised a time-based project of one drawing per day completed over the course of one calendar year. Each of these line drawings was of an object or some select part of her surroundings. The first six months were completed in Paul’s living space, the second six months were from subject matter found in her studio. Paul has joined these two elements together in this time-based exhibition that took place over 24 hours.

The importance of this work for Paul had to do with a most basic act of living (a simple breath) and experiences of the world around us. By deconstructing breathing and awareness down to a conscious and self-examining process, one is forced to consider our place in the world and the passage of time, be it moments of self-awareness, acts of pleasure or comfort, past or impending apprehension and fears, times of remembrance or loss, contemplative reflection or fanciful imagination.

The exhibition was attended by over 100 people some of who participated in making this project worth documenting. With the help of designated “pinners” the installation was successfully completed by 12:00 in the afternoon on Sunday.