‘Breathing’ with ‘Breaths – Air Bladders’

Sparked by the global awareness of breath during the COVID-19 pandemic, and blending art, science and sensorial experience, the exhibition curated by Judith Rainhorn and Charles-Antoine Wanecq explores the cultural, social, and scientific histories of respiration from the 18th century to today. Drawing on the outcomes of two interdisciplinary workshops, it brings together perspectives from historians, scientists, artists, and healthcare professionals. Central to the exhibition is Borecká’s participatory sculpture Breaths – Air Bladders,which transforms a fundamental act of life into a sensorial, collective, and thought-provoking experience. Filomena Borecká is an artist and researcher, PhD (University Paris 1 Panthéon–Sorbonne, 2023), and graduate of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (2004), with an exchange at MFA Hunter College in New York. She works primarily in France but has also created in Prague and New York, with each place leaving its imprint on her practice, which unfolds in three parallel and interrelated threads: performance, (sound) sculpture, and drawing. Her drawings, reminiscent of seismographs, engage in a dialogue with their environment. Recent exhibitions include Maison française d’Oxford, National Gallery Prague, CACLB Luxembourg, Círculo de Bellas Artes Madrid, and Queens College Art Center New York. Borecká collaborates with the Chair in Health in Human and Social Sciences and with the ACTE Institute at Sorbonne University Paris 1. Breaths – Air Bladders For several years, Filomena Borecká has created artworks that invite connection and reflection on what sustains life: the invisible air. Breaths – Air Bladders, co-created with set designer Bruno Dubois, comes alive in the presence of viewers as air-filled forms expand and contract. The work draws on a childhood memory from Christmas Eve: while preparing carp, Borecká recalls seeing two irregular air bladders — organs that help the fish float and, in a child’s imagination, embody its “soul.” This memory anchors an artwork that explores breath as both literal and metaphorical, a vital rhythm binding us to each other and to the living world we share.

• EXHIBITION OPENING Friday 31 October 2025, 6 – 7.30 pm   Free entry, REGISTER NOW Joint Private View with Silent Systems: Breathing Devices
• EXHIBITION DATES: 31 October 2025 – 16 January 2026
• VENUE Bouda Gallery, Czech Centre London 132 Palace Gardens Terrace, London W8 4RT
• OPENING HOURS: Tue – Fri 10am – 5pm