Monica Duncan: Breathing as a stone

Presented in the Sunroom, Breathing as a stone is a video, sculpture and  performance installation that draws inspiration from the small but resilient plants in Wave Hill’s Alpine House, and the history of camouflage studies based on rock outcroppings in Van Cortlandt Park. By incorporating geological materials like granite and quartzite—known for their strength and resistance to weathering—Duncan’s installation becomes a framework for adaptive strategies that oscillate between visibility, support, and concealment, central to broader ideas of identity, originality, becoming, and social change. Through her physical embodiment, the artist also explores what it is like to be “someone or something’s rock,” or a system of support. Performative text scores invite viewers into this exploration of how non-human embodiment can guide us toward strategies of resilience, mutualism, and community support.   

Additional Credits:
Performance for Camera: Elena Demyanenko, Johanna Meyer and Monica Duncan
Sound Design: Senem Pirler and Monica Duncan
Sound Mixing: Senem Pirler 
Horticulture Consultant: Sandra Schaller (Wave Hill, Alpine House)

Saturday, August 2, 2:30PM, Meet the Artist: Breathing as a stone for Plant Contouring Workshop: Embodying Plants through Movement.

Organized by Curator of Visual Arts Rachel Raphaela Gugelberger, the Sunroom Project Space is an open call opportunity for New York-area artists to develop and exhibit a site-specific project as a solo exhibition. The 2025 applications were reviewed by a panel of arts professionals including Jordany Genao, a Dominican interdisciplinary artist and educator; Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel, an artist whose practice unfolds performatively through creative experiences within the quotidian, and the founding director of The Interior Beauty Salon, an organism at the intersection of creativity and healing; and Gugelberger.