The act of breathing often passes unnoticed as a marker of both constancy and change. The simple in, pause and out rhythms are key to our ability to engage with our emotions, thoughts and actions. But then? What tension below the surface? What voice rises? Where can we commune? Creativity may be regarded as a form of breathing – drawing together our sense of (un)space, (un)knowledge, (un)identity.  It architectures a lingua franca for this reflection, giving rise to potential for metamorphosis – a remarkable change in us, our surroundings, our interactions. It is in the breathing that we may contemplate disturbance, connection, release.

During National Poetry Week 2011 six of Australia’s award winning poets will breathe their work within the body of the Newcastle Art Gallery. Surrounded by visual works of creative breath, each reading will be responded to by one of Australia’s finest oboists, playing Britten’s interpretations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. These communing (un)sounds may then rise to join in contemplative conversation within the space, the pause of (un)knowing, and the air.

The poets: Robert Adamson, Rae Desmond Jones, Martin Harrison, Judy Johnson, David Musgrave and Cecilia White.

The oboist: Ben Opie.

This event is jointly supported by the Newcastle Art Gallery and the University of Newcastle (Wellness@UoN Program).

You are invited to breathe and commune with the artists, the works and the space

Saturday 10 September 2011

2pm – 3.30 pm

Newcastle Art Gallery,

Laman St, Newcastle NSW.