Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 5

Yuri Pattison, Sun[set] provisioning (2019), presented by Freddie aged 12.


Transcription of audio:

Hi, my name is Freddie and I’m 12 years old. 

This artwork is by Yuri Pattison and is called Sun(set) Provisioning.

When I first looked at this artwork I saw the sea and what looked like the inside of a computer. 
I also noticed the colours changing a lot, but it’s all the same thing so only the colour changes.  

I think someone made it on a computer because the sky just gives it away. 

This artwork is interactive and the colours of the sunset become stronger when there’s more people in the room.  

Watch people come in and out of the room and watch how it changes. 

Take a step forward and look at the bottom of the screen, it kind of looks like the inside of a PC with the fans. There’s a piece of technology that the artist used that records air levels. 

Did you know that pollution can sometimes change a sunset’s colours? 

See the painting to the right? This is by J.M.W Turner and he painted this after a volcano erupted and the ash changed the colour of the sky. 

What do you notice about this artwork? 

How would you feel floating on the ocean in this artwork?
 
I wouldn’t like to be stranded here because it would be boring because there would be nothing to do and nothing would change. It would kind of just mess with my brain.

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 5

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 4

Niamh McCann, shhh…. fuar anocht beanna boirche  (2023), presented by Éanna aged 8. 


Transcription of audio:

Hi, my name is Éanna and I am 8 years old. 

This artwork is by Niamh McCann and is titled shhh…. fuar anocht beanna boirche 

The title of the work is in Irish and means ‘The Mourne Mountains are cold tonight’ 

When making this artwork, the artist was thinking about a very old Irish story called ‘Buile Shuibne’ which is about a king who was cursed to become half man, half bird, and fly around Ireland without ever finding a home. In the story, the king was sad but was also loved looking at the beautiful landscape.  

The arrow symbol at the two sides of the neon sign is written in Ogham which is an ancient Irish alphabet. These symbols represent the start and end of sentence - just like a capital letter and a full stop. 

The middle part is a sketch of the story – a bird figure and some mountains. 

So now turn your head sideways. If you look closely, you can see a face trembling, and I kind of thought it was of like the king in the story cause like you see the thing that goes like zigzag as trebling lips and the hump as the face and the little closing bit as the closed eye. 

The artist thinks that the king in the story is a bit like the Irish language – cursed to fly around Ireland without landing or finding a home. 

Did you know that 40% or people can speak Irish, with only 10% saying they can speak it very well? 

My favourite thing to say in Irish is i Is breá liom iománaíocht, which means I like hurling. 

Thank you for listening, bye.

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 4

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 3

Khadija Saye, In This Space We Breath (2017), presented by Alice aged 7. 


Transcription of audio:

Hi, my name is Rose and I am 7 years old. 

This artwork is by Khadija Saye and is called In This Space We Breath. 

The artist’s is from Gambia in Africa but lived London.
These photographs are all self-portraits and look very old, despite being made not too long ago.

In these photos, we see the artist holding some special African objects that relate to healing and cleaning.

Find the photo where the artist is holding sticks – these are called ‘chewing sticks’ and is just like a toothbrush! 

And now find the photo where the artist is bending over the cow horn on her back has special powers and is helping remove bad feelings.

Now find the photo where the artist’s head is tilted and something’s covering her face- these are actually lemons and are traditionally used for cleaning….

Fun fact- this artist loved Beyonce and also wanted this photo to reference Beyonce!

What things help to make you feel better? 

Um, the one thing that helps me feel better is playing Super Mario. There’s a character called Toadette and she can turn into like a princess, and the others can’t so I usually play her, just in case I’m allowed to turn into them. 

Thanks for listening, bye!

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 3

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 2

Mercedes Azpilicueta, Potatoes, Riots, and Other Imaginaries (2021), presented by Emily aged 11. 


Transcription of audio:

Hi, my name is Emily and I am 11 years old. 

This artwork is by Mercedes Azpilicueta and is called Potatoes, Riots and Other Imaginaries.

 When I first looked at this artwork, I saw a large tapestry with loads of women working in factories and also modern, like, modern pictures as well. 

Everyone is kind of doing different things- there’s people in the streets and then, they all look like they’re, they look really young.
 
There’s a lot of pink and green, and then on the other side it looks like kind of water around it, and it has like, silver sparkles in it.  
It looks like it took ages to make though. 

This artist is from Argentina and lives in Amsterdam. In the artwork we see lots of stories of women- some old and some new – including women working in factories and protesting in groups – it’s like the artist is writing history! 

The artist also uses images of herself in the tapestry. You can find the artist on the catwalk and getting her face painted- she’s drawing like, it looks like the feminine kind of symbol. 
Which picture stuck out for you the most? 

The image that stuck out for me the most was the factory girls working, and the eel type thing on the floor. 

This is a really good artwork to play Eye Spy with – I spy two little potato people. 

Thank you for listening, bye!

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 2

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 1

Alex Cecchetti, The Journey of One Breath (2024), presented by Maia aged 8.  

Transcription of audio:

Hi, my name is Maia and I am 8 years old. 

This artwork is by Alex Cecchetti and is called The Journey of One Breath. 

When I first looked a this artwork, I saw hanging fabric with tie-die, a lot of underwater stuff- themed kind of, and like, on the walls they looked like they were painted all blue or white and somebody just like got a ginormous bucket and just like juice and just poured it all over the wall kind of. 

Blue is my third favourite colour so I really like it. 

The first hammock that I see looks very, really mother nature and the second hammock reminds me a lot about the sun. 

At the end of the artwork, we see a video of a lot of fishes, sea creatures, turtles, seaweed, and it makes me feel like I, like I’m swimming in it kind of. 

The artist is a free-driver which he dives depe into the ocean and he can hold his breath for a really long time. 

The artist explorers the underwater world and how special it is. 
Did you know that the ocean makes half of the oxygen on earth? 
If you look closely at the hammock, you can see bits of plants. 

The artist used flowers and plants to dye the fabric. 

I recommend for you to spend a long time here and look at everything, and sit in the hammock but you must take your shoes off. 

Do you like being underwater, how does it feel? 

I love it and I just learned like how to swim like properly without holding my breath on holidays last summer, not last summer, like this summer. So, it’s very different than how I normally did it but it’s very fun and it’s kind of relaxing. The sea is very, like, beautiful, so yeah. 

Thank you for listening. Bye!

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 1

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Introduction 

Presented by Sheena Barrett, Head of Research & Learning at IMMA.

Transcription of audio:

Hello, my name is Sheena Barrett and I am the Head of Research & Learning here at IMMA. 

Welcome to Take a Breath - a special new exhibition that helps us understand breathing in different ways. This exhibition shows us how breathing is connected to many parts of life, like how we treat the environment, how people live together,  how we feel inside or what it's like to hold our breath underwater.

Through the seven artworks selected for this audio guide, we will discuss how pollution has changed the air we breathe, and how, in some communities, breath is a powerful symbol when people protest for their rights. Finally, we will also look at how breathing can help us feel calm, and reflect through meditation.

Special thank you to Maia, Emily, Rose, Eanna, Freddie, Penny and Alice for sharing their thoughts and ideas on their chosen artwork.

We hope you enjoy the exhibition. 

Before you move on to Audio 1, let's take a deep breath together. Breathe in, breathe out. 

Thank you for listening.

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Introduction

IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. IMMA TALKS is an activated live programme of talks and events that opens up conversations around the core themes of our exhibition programme, and permanent IMMA Collection, bringing you deeper into the thinking and making of contemporary art.

For further information on IMMA TALKS please contact Sophie Byrne, Assistant Curator, Talks & Public Programmes, IMMA. Email sophie.byrne@imma.ie

Take a Breath Kid's Audio Guide - Audio 5

IMMA Ireland