​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:

It is important to note that in spite of how it feels when you inhale, you do not actually pull air into the body. On the contrary, air is pushed into the body by the atmospheric pressure that always surrounds you. This means that the actual force that gets air into the lungs is outside of the body. The energy expended in breathing produces a shape change that lowers the pressure in the chest cavity and permits the air to be pushed into the body by the weight of the planet's atmosphere. In other words, you create the space, and the universe fills it.

—From Yoga Anatomy, Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews

The relation between tides and breathing is well established in physiology, as the term “tidal volume” refers to the amount of air that moves in or out of the lungs with each respiratory cycle.

The moon is an important motif in this exhibition, reflecting the relational tension of its colossal mass to the earth’s tides, of light and dark, of day and night, of ocean waves rising and falling. By highlighting the intangible connection between things, this exhibition counters the concept of isolated individuals who are discrete and separate from other living beings.