The Universe Breathes Us is an exhibition by Relational (Shirley Tse [former faculty] and Dana Berman Duff [Art MFA 81]) with Doug Ferrand, Alan Berman Duff, C3LA (Choral Collective Los Angeles), and a Reykjavik choir led by Thomas Stankiewicz. The exhibition, at Kling and Bang Art Space in Reykjavik, Iceland, runs Aug. 16 to Sept. 28 and was organized by Anna Hrund Másdóttir (Art MFA 16).

The Universe Breathes Us is an artists’ collaboration that takes tidal turbine energy as a model that reveals a physical truth: Forces originate from the relations of things, not from things themselves. The artists are drawn to the poetics of ocean tides as a manifestation of the gravitational forces between the Sun, Earth and Moon, forces which can be used as a source of collectable energy. The artists connect this energy model to human body breathing, where air moves by pressure differentials or its relative density.

Included in the exhibition are collapsible sculptures, light, sound, 16mm film projection, videos, and photographs a sonic piece by experimental sound composer Doug Farrand that is structured by the tide tables of Reykjavik will play continuously in the space. Composer-musicians Alan Berman and Dana Duff wrote a song that emphasizes the relational force that creates breathing. It was recorded in Los Angeles by the renowned collective C3LA and will be played on demand in the exhibition for viewers to sing along. A Reykjavik choir performed the song live at the opening. Through singing about the pressure differentials between the body and the earth’s atmosphere, the relational force is experienced in action and practice.

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Email: d.naduff@gmail.com