YOU:MATTER exhibition text
Read all the text from the gallery walls here.
Introduction
Where do you end and begin? From the Big Bang… to right now.
Marshmallow Laser Feast invites you to experience how everything is connected. From the stars above, to each living cell—from the air we share to the water and light coursing through our bodies—science makes the invisible visible. Come and learn what you're made of.
Marshmallow Laser Feast is an experiential artist collective led by directors Robin McNicholas, Ersin Han Ersin and Barnaby Steel.
Ancestry in the stars
Where are you from?
Consider all the living things on Earth. Each one comes from the molten hearts of ancient stars.
As a human being, you are part of a vast wave of energy that began with the explosion that created our universe.
The Big Bang formed stars. Some stars became planets.
One planet (we know of) grew life.
Hedgehogs, sharks, bats, oak trees, peacocks, molluscs. Shrimp in their billions, ants in their trillions, fungi in their quadrillions. And you. Your lungs, your heart, your blood and brain are all made of star-stuff.
Welcome to the universe... where the stars have aligned to bring us from the Big Bang to Bradford.
A quotation from Gregory Bateson:
“What is the pattern that connects the crab to the lobster and the primrose to the orchid, and all of them to me, and me to you?”
The Ingredients of Life
What are you made of?
Look closely and discover.
Your body contains around twenty elements. Each one was forged in the explosion of ancient stars.
You are mostly oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. Your other ingredients are trace elements, important but hidden.
From your fingernails and DNA, to the marrow of your bone and the iris of your eye. You are constructed from the same basic building blocks as our universe.
Here is the stuff you are made of.
Your body is a wonderful collection.
A quotation from Michelle Thaller:
“There’s never been something quite like me or like you. You are a miracle of cosmic proportions. And it’s not just other humans or other life; it’s the very bones of the Earth.”
A list of elements and the proportions by weight in a human body:
Oxygen – 52kg
Carbon – 14.4kg
Hydrogen – 8kg
Nitrogen – 2.4kg
Calcium – 1.12kg
Phosphorus – 880g
Sulphur – 200g
Potassium – 200g
Sodium – 120g
Chlorine – 120g
Magnesium – 40g
Iron – 4.8g
Fluorine – 3.0g
We Live in an Ocean of Air
How do your lungs connect you to every plant on earth?
Breathe into the sensors and see.
Plants and animals breathe together.
When they are in sync, flora and fauna are partners.
We inhale oxygen that was breathed out by plants and give carbon dioxide back in return.
This Sequoia tree represents the billions of plants that will enjoy the carbon dioxide you make in your life.
A quotation from David Abram:
“Breathing involves … offering ourselves to the world at one moment and drawing the world into ourselves at the next.”
A Breathing Planet
How does our planet inhale and exhale?
See the daily carbon flow of our living world.
Using satellite data, we can see our planet breathing oxygen and carbon dioxide, in and out.
Creatures like us take in oxygen. When fossil fuels are burned, or volcanoes erupt, carbon is let out. Plants play their part by using this carbon to grow, but it’s a fragile balance. If carbon is not traded evenly, our planet will be left gasping for air.
A quotation from Miguel Mahecha:
“Every breath we take is part of the global carbon cycle, connecting us directly to the planet's breathing system.”
Head in the Clouds
How much of you is H20?
Is your main experience of water between the tap and the toilet? Put your head in the cloud to dive deeper.
You are part cloud.
Every cell in your body contains water that has fallen to earth. The molecules of moisture in your blood and muscles were once streams, melting glaciers and hurricanes.
All water on our planet is on a journey from solid to liquid to gas and back again. As ice, vapour, rain and river – water shapes the world we share.
Living things are mostly H20. Like a whirlpool in a river, YOU are a shape that water takes.
A quotation from Thich Nhat Hanh:
“Yesterday the tea was a cloud up in the sky but today it has become the tea in my glass."
Sunlight Under My Skin
Are people powered by stars?
Place your hand under the light and see.
The radiance of our sun courses through you.
Every meal you consume is made of sunlight that was spun into glucose (sugar) by plants.
In your cells, a process called respiration releases that plant-processed solar energy.
This is the power of the sun at work inside your body.
Our web of life is woven out of light.
See? You’re glowing.
Look below the surface of your skin – you’re pure starpower.
A quotation from Jill Tarter:
“We are star stuff harvesting sunlight."
Tree of Life
How many living forms can there be?
Place your face in the light to join the Tree of Life.
Evolution is like a tree. You are a new sprout on the end of a very long branch which stretches back billions of years.
Every living thing on Earth descended from one common ancestor. This means you are a cousin to mushrooms, leopards, bacteria, falcons and kelp.
The biodiversity of our planet started with a bang… The Big Bang. Life wove itself together out of energy, chemistry, survival and luck.
You are just one small part of our planet’s ongoing chemical chain reaction. Water, air, carbon, energy and star-stuff flow through you.
Everything you see was born from stars. The moon and Jupiter, the clouds above, the curve of an ant’s antenna, and the fin of a blue whale. The cup of your outstretched hand.
You’re in good company.
Welcome home.
A quotation from Mae Jemison:
“Life is a series of patterns, and we are all connected by those patterns."
Conclusion
What sort of stuff are you made of?
What is your essence? What makes you who you are?
How are you connected to our planet and the universe beyond?
