Shirazeh Houshiary Breath

We worked closely with the visual artist Shirazeh Houshiary to remaster the animated film installation Breath.

Houshiary's animated film Breath is a four-screen video installation, each screen displaying a delicate shimmering animated mist that expands and contracts. Each screen visualises the breath of a vocalist as they hum songs from four religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Sufism. The delicate organic forms created and driven by vocalists' breath combined with the audible succession of chants envelops viewers; immersing them in the four diverse cultures.

Houshiary has worked with Hotbox Studios on several animated films although first produced Breath back in 2003 in a non-standard low resolution. Houshiary came to Hotbox Studios in 2012 wishing to update Breath to allow for the animated film to be played on modern high-definition screens. Hatchard worked with Houshiary in remastering Breath to create a true HD version of the original film.

The animation for Houshiary's Breath was remastered, composited and edited using in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects.

Houshiary's animated film Breath first exhibited at New York City's Lehmann Maupin Gallery, and has gone on to exhibit at London's Lisson Gallery, at Torre di Porta Nuova the collateral event of the 55th Venice Biennale in Venice Italy, at Jhaveri Contemporary in Mumbai India, and installed in New York City's The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).