Christopher Kaczmarek’s Sabbatical Residency Culminates in “Respiro (Breath)” at Church of St. Anthony in Breno, Italy
Posted in: Announcements
Inside the Church of Sant’Antonio in Breno, Italy, light, sound, fabric, and movement shape Respiro (Breath), a new site-specific exhibition by Associate Professor Christopher Kaczmarek. Created during his sabbatical from Montclair State University, Kaczmarek has been immersed in a rural Italian context as an artist in residence at the RUC Rural Residency for Contemporary Art in Cividate Camuno from August 20 to September 22. This period of research and experimentation has culminated in Respiro (Breath), an exhibition and performance project presented at the church, created in collaboration with fellow resident artist Patricia Miranda. Performances were presented on September 6, September 12, and September 18, each featuring slightly different participant populations.
Respiro (Breath) brings together performances, installations, and video works that explore breath as both a physical necessity and a poetic structure, a rhythm of presence and absence, binding and release, individual gesture and collective action. Installed within the historic church, the exhibition unfolds as a series of subtle interventions that activate the architecture and invite viewers into a shared sensory experience.
Fabric, sound, and light recur throughout the works as connective threads, weaving together body, space, and community in cycles of gathering and dispersal. Movements tether and untether, sounds resonate and fade, and projected images fold the space back upon itself. Through these gestures, Kaczmarek and Miranda transform the church into a living body, one that inhales and exhales, holds and releases, remembers and renews.
The choice of site is central to the project. Rather than treating the church as a neutral container, the artists engage it as an active participant. Breath becomes a metaphor for ritual, echoing the building’s history as a place of collective presence, reflection, and transformation. In this context, Respiro (Breath) invites audiences to consider how imagination and embodied action can reshape spaces, offering moments of hope, connection, and attentiveness.
Kaczmarek was an artist in residence at RUC Rural Residency for Contemporary Art, which supports international artists working in dialogue with the cultural and geographic landscape of the Camonica Valley. His residency underscores RUC’s mission to foster experimental practices rooted in place, exchange, and sustained inquiry.
The exhibition catalogue, Respiro, published by Museo Camuno in 2025, accompanies the project. The catalogue, in Italian and English, was presented during a catalogue presentation event at the museum.
Through Respiro (Breath), Kaczmarek’s sabbatical research takes shape in a project that is both intimate and communal, exploring how breath, as a shared yet deeply personal act, can become material for art and a catalyst for connection. He hopes to carry the insights and approaches from this residency back into the classroom when he returns to his teaching duties after his tenure as a Fulbright Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellow in India this spring.
For more information, see the links below:
A feature on Italian TV:
Other news features: