This project comprises two installations that were part of an exhibition at the Universidad Iberoamericana. In the first part, glass panels were placed along the hallway of the art, music, and dance workshops. When breathed on them, different phrases from Duchamp's Inframince series of notes were revealed. The motive was to reveal a written word with the basis of a spoken word: breath. In the second part, an installation using transparent tracing paper was created to demonstrate one example of Inframince notes: the thickness of a sheet of paper. 

Both works speak to the concept of almost-nothing: subtle, often-overlooked aspects of experience and existence that are essential to our perception of reality, yet unnoticed or undervalued.

Vahos I 

2025

Breath on glass

21 glass panels of  21.6 x 27.9 cm

Vahos II 

2025

Tracing paper installation

Words are minimal acts. They are sustained by negative space and breath. Even with this fragility, words create our world.

In 1914, Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) wrote about the inframince, an adjective that describes those everyday, evanescent, minimal, almost imperceptible acts that nonetheless occur; like caresses, the warmth of a seat just left, the sound of trousers rustling while walking, or the breath on a surface. Ana Sofia Esteva (Mexico City, 2000) proposes an inframince exercise to examine written words based on what constitutes spoken words: breath. She also invites us to reflect on error and the fleeting nature of the intangible. By activating the piece, we give physical form to the evanescent.

The instructions are simple: approach the crystals in the columns and, using your own breath, blow two or three times to reveal the writing that lies invisible on the glass.

We cannot guarantee its perfection or clarity. The fragility of the inframince depends on light, weather, and accessibility.

It is something uncontrollable and almost imperceptible; like a word that vanishes the moment it is spoken.

Ana Sofia Esteva and Andrea de Caso