Breathe With Me - Artist Jeppe Hein & Michou Mahtani Take A Breath in Central Park

Life begins with an inhale and ends with an exhale. In-between we all breathe and live different lives. And yet, each breath keeps us together, connected, sharing the same air. - Jeppe Hein

Last September Artist Jeppe Hein invited us to Breath with him alongside former Mayor of New York CIty Michael Bloomberg.

As owners of a design company  that specializes in barware , lighting design, home accessories and with our online retail store  Thomas and I could feel the paradigm shift coming.

Little did we know what was really coming in to the world via Coronavirus Covid-19. It is  said artists have capabilities and sensibilities to tap into the united consciousness and create art and movement that resonate with our fellow human inhabitants of this great Planet Earth. 

If Coivd-19 proved anything is that it caused us to stop take a breath, let our planet and our environment catch IT'S BREATH and all breath easier knowing how lucky we are and as my father always use to say " we are all one". 

I was so lucky to be part of this amazing experience. 

 Michou Mahtani Expressing His Breath with one brush stroke

On September 21-27  2019 Breathe with Me, a global art project by Jeppe Hein and ART 2030, launched to bring the entire world together with one simple, universal action: breathing with Michael Bloomberg

'Breathe with Me' at the United Nations Headquarters & in Central Park, an Art Project for the World by Jeppe Hein and ART 2030. All photos by Jan Strempel © Jeppe Hein 

The public art installation Breathe with Me invites audiences to create a piece of art together, by painting their breath in the form of two blue lines, painted as they exhale in long downward brush strokes. While everyone paints the lines of their breath differently, together the lines form part of a universal whole. While reflecting on the potential of collaborative and community action, the project also raises awareness that the air we breathe is part of our connected world and climate.

Breathe with Me' at the United Nations Headquarters & in Central Park, an Art Project for the World by Jeppe Hein and ART 2030. All photos by Jan Strempel © Jeppe Hein

Breathe with Me launched to great success inside the United Nations Headquarters and in Central Park, as part of ART 2030 New York during the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly and coinciding with the UN Climate Action Summit. At the same time, Breathe with Me educational, digital and community activations, also took place across the city and the world.

The biggest art project staged in the Central Park in over a decade, Breathe with Me reached a potential estimate of over 93 million people in New York and beyond.

We rely on our First Breathers – people of action and inspiration. Acting as ambassadors for Breathe with Me we asked them to help spread the word and bring awareness to the project.

From left upper corner: Johan Köenig (Gallerist), Pipilotti Rist (Artist), Lukas Graham (Musician), Alison Smale (USG for Global Communications - UN DCG), Cyrill Gutsch (Founder of Parley for the Oceans), Bjarke Ingels and Ruth Otero (Architects), Julia Stoschek (Art Collector), Ralph Rugoff (Curator and Artistic Director), Shirin Neshat (Artist), Daniel Hum (Chef), Martin Bille Hermann (UN Ambassador of Denmark) and Pilou Asbæk (Actor)