SOUFFLER N'EST PAS JOUER

Duration: 21 minutes

To breathe is to absorb oxygen. One of the theories that attempts to explain aging posits that this absorption of oxygen has the side effect of causing aging by oxydizing our organs. That which on the one hand allows us to live, on the other hand would fan the flames of aging.

That which instills life in us, would also lead us to our last breath, ironically emphasized by the ever increasing number of candles to blow out.

In Souffler n'est pas jouer, I blow on a shiny surface and on a light that produces a reflection. My breath feeds the reflection.

I did and filmed this experiment every day for several months. Each time, the duration of this "performance without an audience" (except for the eye of the camera) was shaped by my respiratory capacity, I stopped only when the deep inhalation was beginning to get me dizzy through hyperventilation.

The regularity of my breathing sessions had me think about the exercises preparing for a baby delivery and forms that resemble that of an embryo are present in my film.

The words used for breathing are linked to well-being and malaise. One breathes when one feels well: "One breathes health", "one has time to breathe at last", and when one feels ill, "one is short of breath", "one suffocates".

I want to present this video in a dark room, where one can come back to those very feelings, be conscious about one's breathing and at the same time feel oppressed by too dark a place. The video was edited like a breathing rhythm, an ascending phase, (inhaling) and a descending phase 'exhaling) mirroring it.

The title, Souffler n'esr pas jouer (Literally translated it means "to blow is not to play), used by checkers players, highlights the dualism of this work. I "played blowing" but this is not innocent, and if at the end one dies, it is not fair play!