BERLIN.- “Breathing rate is most effectively recorded when the animal is viewed diagonally from behind and a count is taken of the rising and falling of the lateral abdominal wall. The normal rate in calves is 30 to 45, in adult cattle 24 to 36, in sheep and goats 15 to 30, in chicken 10 to 40, and in pigs 12 to 20 breaths per minute. A distinction is drawn between tachypnoea (increased breathing rate), bradypnoea (reduced breathing rate), dyspnoea (disruption of breathing in rate, depth or volume) and apnoea (respiratory arrest).” --Cited from the eponymous publication K49814: “Atmen ohne Pause”, Kehrer Verlag, 2014.

With the book and the eponymous exhibition “Atmen ohne Pause” K49814 places breath as a primary articulation of the will to live at the centre of the discourse: “He who breathes, wants to live. But who is permitted to live?”

For several years K49814 took dense, intimate pictures of her non-human counterparts in their natural habitat as well as in places of systematic killing. With the black-and-white photographs resulting from this K49814 poses questions about the life and death decisive demarcation »human-animal«. The exhibition comprises images of both unharmed and harmed animals. Additionally to the photographs there will be a floor and a sound installation.

“I looked you in the eyes and could promise you nothing other than to make you visible. In your oncebeing, your breathing and will to exist. If people look at your images and let themselves be moved by them, my actions will be justified.” K49814

K49814 Atmen Ohne Pause is exhibited at the Kehrer Berlin Gallery.