Itziar Okariz reflects on The Ocean Breath, a performance made in collaboration with Izar Ocariz. It starts from the breathing used in yoga, whereby the artist is the instructor. The interview, conducted by Isabel de Naverán a few hours before the presentation of the performance at the Museum, collects images of it while addressing issues related to the voice, listening between bodies and the sound of breathing in analogy to the sound of the sea or the movement of the waves.
The Ocean Breath closed the programme of The Night of Ideas, an annual event propelled since 2016 by the Institut français in Paris. The sixth edition of the event in 2021 is held under the title Proches (Close) under the collaboration of the Museo Reina Sofía.
Itziar Okariz works in the sphere of action and performance, questioning ways of regulating language and the production of signs that define us. Her most recent projects include her participation in Las estatuas (Museo Jorge Oteiza Foundation, Alzuza, 2020), 13th Shangai Biennale (2020), Perforated by (for the Spanish Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, with Sergio Prego, 2019), I Never Said Umbrella (Tabakalera, San Sebastián, 2018), Una construcción, es decir, una jerarquía de momentos, expresiva de cierto concepto grande o pequeño, abstracto esotérico (CA2M, Móstoles, 2018), Itziar Okariz (Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, 2017) and Dream Diary (Ars Parcours, Basel, 2017). Izar Ocariz likes to read, write, draw and do karate. Both live in Bilbao.
Isabel de Naverán is charge of curating live arts (dance-performance) in the Museo Reina Sofía’s Public Activities Department.