MyMicroGallery is pleased to announce “Respiro” (Breath), an exhibition curated by Stefania Carrozzini featuring twenty artists from various countries: Korea, Germany, Finland, Japan, Italy, Norway, United Kingdom, United States, and Switzerland.

This is an international project and a traveling concept involving artists with diverse expressive languages who share a common sensitivity toward the immaterial.

Breath is the vital element par excellence—a subtle union between spirit and matter, an entity of a single and indivisible world, the alternating duration between wave and undertow, between inside and outside.

Breath is a physical reality; therefore, this exhibition begins with the body—from the thought, action, and imagination of the artists, who offer various visual and textual narratives of this basic activity shared by all human beings, as well as the animal and plant kingdoms.

The word “Respiro,” from the Latin respirare, is composed of re- (indicating repetition) and spirare (to blow). When first conceived, it was a scholarly term suited for medical and physiological considerations. It later became part of common lexicon, as did all Italian derivatives of spirare: from inspirare (inhale) and espirare (exhale) to traspirare (perspire), sospirare (sigh), ispirare (inspire), and spirito (spirit). It thus opens up to marvelous figurative meanings, most notably those of relief and pause.

In moments of agitation, the rhythm of breath shortens, generating a restless mind; during a pause, however, the breath reclaims its space, expanding the chest and softening the chaos. Similarly, the oppression of anxiety and anguish etymologically speak of gasping and panting—a tightness we immediately associate with a weight on the breath. It is only natural, then, to understand the recovery of breath as authentic relief.

Moving from the physiological matrix to its cultural and ideological significance, we encounter works of “great breath” (wide scope). Across various expressive and linguistic fronts, these works become grand and present; they possess a strong voice, are powerfully inspired, and grant a sense of freedom because they embrace life itself.

Dates: March 9 – 21, 2021
The traveling exhibition RESPIRO was previously exhibited in Venice at the Galleria Sant’Eufemia and, following the Milan edition, will be presented in London in December 2021.