Workshop: Breath Art and Culture (Bottelarij, big studio, Rue Delaunoy 58, 1080 Molenbeek)
February 7 2022 and February 8 2022, 10:00–17:00. February 9 2022,10:00-13:00.

Breath training and awareness is often reserved for those who “need” it; singers, wind instruments, and the occasional noisy cellist. In other performance métiers it is an unregulated topic—if it is even discussed in any depth at all—and it is rarely defined as an art form in and of itself. However, 21st century developments have already shown us that the way we breath affects our bodies, minds, health, self-expression, and level of human equality. It can even be used as a weapon.
These topics will be explored broadly during a breath culture forum given by breath artist and opera singer Maribeth Diggle, breath artist and beat boxer Shodekeh, and professor on feminist politics of breathing, Magdalena Góska.
A three-day workshop will include two days of breath art practice, definition, and application, followed by a third (half) day of lecture and exchange. For inscriptions, preference is given to those who want and can take part in all three days. In case not all places would be taken, it will also be possible to only follow the first day.
Breath art is not limited to any one artist or practice. It is accessible to anyone who would like to pursue more dynamic breath awareness in their practice and daily lives.

Magdalena Góska (PhD): Assistant Professor at the Graduate Gender Programme, Department of Media and Culture Studies and at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICON), Utrecht University focusing on feminist politics of breathing and vulnerability. Her book Breathing Matters: Feminist Intersectional Politics of Vulnerability develops a feminist engagement with breath and breathing through a non-universalising and politicised understanding of embodiment where human bodies are conceptualised as agential actors of intersectional politics. She is the founder of the Breathing Matters Network.

Shodekeh Talifero: beat boxer, vocal percussionist, breath artist, and Innovator in Residence at Towson University, Baltimore MD. He advances the breath art discipline through his performative and compositional breath art musicianship in collaboration with institutions such as the brand-new Peabody BFA Program of Johns Hopkins University, Carnegie Hall NYC, Kennedy Center Washington DC and the National Aquarium in Baltimore MD to name a few.

Maribeth Diggle: opera singer, director/maker, and PhD student at the Royal Institute of Theater, Cinema and Sound in Brussels, specialising in Breath Art which which investigates breath as the primary actor in all forms of dynamic breath expression in performing bodies. She and her work is supported by Muziektheater Transparant production house based in Antwerp, including her recent creation entitled SOLA SOLETTA which was premiered at the Flemish Opera, and her projects and research have been supported by the Flemish Ministry of Culture. Maribeth continues to be engaged by the In Series Opera in Washington DC under the artistic direction of Timothy Nelson.