Liz Larner: Unstill Life

Liz Larner: V (planchette), 2013, mulberry paper, aluminum, and pigmented egg tempera, 98 by 88 by 68 inches.
WHAT IS IN A BREATH? In 1988, at a group show in Graz, Austria, Liz Larner asked her fellow artists to exhale onto an agar culture that she had prepared in a petri dish, like a medical professional testing for disease. Larner put the work on display, and over the course of the show’s run, the accumulated bacteria grew into menacing blooms, which eventually died, turning black. The