Breathing House 呼吸の家

Ten black boxes huddle together, tiptoeing on their legs that stretch vertically from the floor. Their insides are coated with various herbs and spices such as pepper, jasmin, green tea, ginger and cumin. As the title suggests, this work provides a space, and vessels, for breathing. The viewer is invited to walk inside a box and experience each fragrance in secluded silence. The holes pierced on the boxes in the shape of defferent constellations symbolize the circulation of life energy between heaven and earth. The contemporary Thai artist Montien uses materials such as clay, ash, and wax that are both natural and traditional to express Buddhist world views, and has been attracting international attention since the early 1990s. This particular piece is a typical example from the series he started in 1995 that create environments to envelope human bodies. It not only works upon the viewer physically as he breathes in the fragrance of herbs, but also presents, in an abstract form, the soothing quality and healing effects of certain special atmosphere found at such places as temples and forests.