Breathe Ancient Air: Art Rewrites Time

Julian Charrière's new permanent installation at Mona, titled Breathe, offers visitors an extraordinary journey into deep time. The artwork allows individuals to inhale oxygen preserved in iron ore since the Paleoproterozoic era, over two billion years ago. This oxygen, released during the Great Oxidation Event, is extracted daily from Australian Pilbara iron ore in an on-site lab.

Visitors experience Breathe as a solitary encounter within a vault-like corridor leading to a cylindrical room. Here, a floor-to-ceiling glass tube houses the Hofmann apparatus, which electrolyzes water to isolate the ancient oxygen. This pure, untouched oxygen is then released for visitors to breathe, connecting them to Earth's primordial beginnings and the vast oxygen cycle.

The installation, Breathe, complements Charrière's major exhibition, Hard Core, which delves into geology and human experience of deep time. This exhibition features diverse works like icebergs with blowtorches, glacial rocks, snails consuming sculptures, and a film of fireworks. It aims to bring geological timescales into human perception, exploring our profound relationship with the planet.