Anders Holen’s Heavy Breathing consisted of ten sculptural works placed among transparent walls that moved with the airflow of the room. The installation explored what is active in and between things. By highlighting the agency of objects, the works also reflected what is active in the people observing them. The exhibition presented sculptures based on a living father and a deceased mother, where proximity and absence emerge as potent forces that elude form and predictability. The Guggenheim Museum was transformed into a perpetual motion machine that channels water through an architectural body. The frames of the wall-mounted artworks were made from mechanical cooling elements that dissipate heat from whatever they come into contact with. Heavy Breathing juxtaposed animated and inanimate objects with vital objects in motion. The exhibition introduced a perspective in which invisible forces at work in the world and in human experience become perceptible.
Anders Holen (b. 1986) lives and works in Oslo. He graduated from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and works within sculpture and installation. His works have been shown in institutions such as Astrup Fearnley Museet, Kristiansand Kunsthall, Giorgio Galotti gallery, the Vigeland Museum during the 9th Sculpture Biennale, Entree Bergen, Contemporary Art Centre Vilnius, Kunsthall Oslo and Helper Projects New York.