MANCHESTER, VT.- Southern Vermont Arts Center will present Exhale: A Multisensory Art Experience opening in SVAC’s Elizabeth de C. Wilson Museum on Saturday, May 7, 2022. A closing reception with some of the participating artists will be held on June 11 from 2-4 p.m.
The last two years have seen a hypervigilance around the simple act of breathing. Our breath is simultaneously a dangerous vehicle through which the virus is passed, a coping strategy to alleviate stress, and a tool for healing lung function for those who’ve had Covid-19. Given all that we’ve been through, it’s time for a monumental, collective exhale.
Exhale: A Multisensory Art Experience brings together seven artists working across a variety of media: audio, sculpture, paintings, drawings, video, animated sequences, and interactive media. This multisensory exhibition builds on the group’s 2021 show, Digital Breath, at the Newport Art Museum that explored what happens when an unknown variable completely disrupts the patterns of your life and necessitates living more of your existence through the digital realm.
A year later, curator and participating artist Brian C. O’Malley offered the following prompt: “We still find ourselves in a global pandemic, with variants arising and receding like ocean tides. Have we been holding our breath, waiting? Are we ready to release this quivering pocket of air?”
He is joined at SVAC by Sophia Ainslie (MA), Steven Subotnick (RI), Lauren Mantecón (NM), Daniel O’Neill (RI), Joseph Fortune (RI), and John DeVault (RI). These artists have created an immersive, multisensory experience in the Wilson Museum that aims to engage the viewer in the present moment. Or, as artist Laurie Anderson once put it: “To live in the gap between the moment that is expiring and the one that is arising.”
Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) is a multidisciplinary arts organization in Manchester, VT with a mission to promote and nurture the arts. SVAC strives to provide opportunities for local and regional artists, to introduce the wider community to artwork and performances of national relevance, and to engage diverse audiences. To do this, SVAC creates a community space for the arts through concerts and performances in the Louise Arkell Pavilion; adult art workshops and children’s summer camps in the Hay Madeira Education Studios; trails throughout its 100-acre campus and the Stroup Family Sculpture Park; and through exhibitions and events at Yester House and the Elizabeth de C. Wilson Museum. Enjoy lunch, brunch and dinner at SVAC's curATE café! Check the SVAC website for current hours. Reserve your table through OpenTable or call 802-362-9100.
