Deep Breath: An Interdisciplinary Workshop in Breathing

Laura Gonzalez (Organiser),

The Scottish Breath Network was launched in 2021, with funding from Creative Scotland and support from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. It is currently managed by Professor Laura Gonzalez. The network aims to connect people in Scotland who have an interest in the breath.

This event will contribute to knowledge around breath practices, raising awareness of cultural and social attitudes to breath and breathlessness. Attention to breath has been raised in recent years due to the respiratory aspect of Covid-19, where breathlessness has been made particularly visible and palpable. Our workshop, and successive connections, will build upon this awareness, and examine how our attitudes have been influenced by such recent events. Arguably, we are all paying attention to breathing in different ways to before, and so this may be a valuable time in which to draw out the impact of breath on society. Equally prevalent and growing in significance for society is breath, protest, and human rights. The Black Lives Matter movement has grown rapidly in recent years, with the memorably tragic ‘I can’t breathe’ becoming a symbol of violence, brutality, and oppression.

We hope that this event, and subsequent expansion of the Network, will develop interdisciplinary collaboration, in particular bringing together those with expertise in breath practices with artists and academics. We believe there is the potential for rich, powerful collaboration by bringing artists and creative practitioners together with academics to develop further public engagement, impact, and publications, contributing to cultural understandings of breath.