Birth Death Breath: An Inflatable Opera by Diane Christiansen and Jeanne Dunning

Exhibition Website

Sep 22 2016 - Nov 27 2016

Elmhurst Art Museum presents the world premiere of Birth Death Breath, an opera "performed" by inflatable Christmas lawn decorations in various stages of inflation and deflation. Viewers are invited to move amongst the various inflatable characters as they rise from the ground and begin to sing, seeming to come back to life. In a way that is simultaneously humorous and heartfelt, the installation explores timeless existential questions about the meaning of life and the incomprehensibility of death. Birth Death Breath was conceived, written and staged by Chicago artists Diane Christiansen and Jeanne Dunning and will be shown at EAM alongside the exhibition Blow Up: Inflatable Contemporary Art.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website




  • Installation
  • American
  • Contemporary
  • Diane Christiansen
  • Jeanne Dunning

Exhibition Venues & Dates