Remember that red-haired aerobics teacher that used to yell loudly over the thumping disco beat while her head-banded spandex army jumped and kicked in unison in front of a mirror at the community center?

“Don’t forget to breeeeeeeaaaath, people! Okay? And 2 and 3 and 4. Good!”

You cannot forget to breath if you are gazing down Piotrkowska Street in Łódź on your average Thursday night either. You will see the slowly pulsing acqua neon sign just installed there reminding you to do that normal thing that you may not pay much attention to.

“Wdech/Wydech”

“Breathe-in/Breathe-out”

The artist duo Supergut Studio (Katarzyna Furgalinska, Lukasz Smolarczyk), have just completed this new public art piece, “throbbing in line with human’s breathing, creating an illusion of synchronization between the neon light and the human organism, ” they say.

Made with old fashioned neon technology instead of the LEDs that are taking over public light fixtures everywhere, this sign is shrouded effectively in the darkness of night despite its proximity to illuminated crossings and traffic. Watching it silently from a distance, it also summons a memory of city life in the past – perhaps your past.

“The idea is to direct the installation’s influence at a single recipient and his individual sense of ‘here and now’,” says the project’s curator Michal Biesynski, who has over the last decade brought a huge number of artists opportunities to paint walls and erect sculpture here in the Polish city.

This new installation in the public sphere may actually be good for citizen’s health, and possibly their peace of mind.

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