YOU:MATTER
Where do you end and begin? From the Big Bang… to right now. Through seven immersive and unique rooms, the exhibition inspires participants to experience how we are all connected to the natural world, and how everything in our universe can be traced back to the same cosmic explosion.
The journey begins with the Big Bang – it wasn’t just a one-time thing – it’s still banging, right at the heart of Bradford and coursing through us and our surroundings. YOU:MATTER is a spectacular immersive exhibition commissioned by the National Science and Media for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
Visitors can take an unforgettable trip discovering their connection to the universe, exploring the web of relationships that bond people and the natural world together.
Open: 3 Apr 2025 – 22 Feb 2026
Location: National Science and Media Museum
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Visitors move through a cosmos of projected light, soundscapes, sculptural forms and interactive moments, witnessing how the building blocks of the universe live within us. From breathing life into a digital forest to seeing sunlight animate their skin, each installation invites audiences to reflect on their place in the vast web of existence.
The exhibition is told across a series of immersive, multi-sensory installations in seven immersive rooms — each offering a unique encounter with the forces that shape life
Ancestry In The Stars
From the Big Bang… to right now.
You are part of a vast wave of energy that began with the explosion that created our universe. Each living thing on Earth comes from the molten hearts of ancient stars. Hedgehogs, sharks, bats, oak trees, peacocks, fungi in their quadrillions — and you. Your lungs, your heart, your blood and brain are all made of star-stuff.
The Ingredients of Life
Like un-baking a cake, If you could break the average human down to its ingredients, what would that look like?
In this corridor installation, audiences encounter the elemental composition of the human body in a sculptural form. The same ingredients that stars are made of. Materials such as rocks, dust, and liquid are scaled to the size of a single body and annotated: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen…
We Live In An Ocean Of Air
Using breath sensors and real-time projection, this interactive installation allows visitors to visualise their own exhalation as it flows into a Sequoia tree. The experience explores the reciprocal exchange of gases between humans and plants, making the invisible process of respiration both visual and visceral.
A Breathing Planet
A circular screen shows the day/night cycle of carbon dioxide, pulsing in a rhythmic fashion, reminiscent of a breathing, beating Earth. Using satellite data, we see our planet breathing oxygen and carbon dioxide, in and out.
Head In The Clouds
Two large playful cloud sculptures invite visitors to put their head inside and dive deeper. Inside, a soft-spoken voice takes the visitors on a journey through the water cycle, from cloud to rain, from tea to sweat, from human to sky.
Sunlight Under My Skin
In this hands-on installation, visitors place their hands under a beam of projected light to reveal the blood vessels beneath their skin, and the radiance of the sun flowing within.
Tree of Life
Visitors position their faces in the light to join the Tree of Life. heir likeness is captured and seamlessly integrated into a dynamic, morphing display of biodiversity.
From the stars above to each living cell, the technologies behind this extraordinary experience make the invisible visible. The installation playfully shows how each ingredient of life, large or small, is constructed from the same basic building blocks as our universe.
As their journey unfolds, visitors see how the human body is inextricably linked to water, air and sunlight through the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. The visit ends with a phylogenetic tree, standing as ‘end credits’ of the universe, tracing the multitudes of species that have graced the Earth.
From the stars above to each living cell, the technologies behind this extraordinary experience make the invisible visible. The installation playfully shows how each ingredient of life, large or small, is constructed from the same basic building blocks as our universe.
Come and learn what you’re made of.
Directed by Marshmallow Laser Feast
Robin McNicholas, Barnaby Steel, Ersin Han Ersin
Executive Producers: Carolina Vallejo, Eleanor (Nell) Whitley, Mike Jones
Voiced by Verity Henry
Experience Interpretation Text & VO Script by Seth Bockley, Shayla Love
Exhibition Design & Art Direction: Ece Tankal
Technical Director Artists & Engineers: Louis Mustill
Sound Design & Spatialisation: Carolyn Downing
Production Design: DON Design Studio Ltd
Lighting Design: Sarah Readman
Producers:
Martin Jowers
Roxie Oliveira
Anya Tye
Emma Hamilton
Theresa Macaulay
Technical Providers: Solotech UK Group Ltd
Technical VFX Artists: Lewis Saunders, Nicolas Le Dren
Tree of Life Lead Developer: Adam Child
We Live in an Ocean of Air Lead Developer: Chris Plant
We Live in an Ocean of Air Sensor Developer: PlayfulBits Ltd; Berkay Daver
Exhibition Construction & Installation: Hadley Interiors Ltd
Wall Painting: Bagnall & Sons Ltd
Graphics Installation: Trafford Signs
Head in the Clouds Rigging: Unusual Rigging Ltd
Scenic Painter: Emma Gazzard
Carpenter: Stuart Manning
Exhibition & Interpretation Manager: Rowena Hamilton
Voiceover Editor: David Holmes
Technical Development: Andrew Robinson
Tools & Infrastructure Engineer: Maria Astakhova
R&D AI Generation: Nilor Corp; Lucas Moskun, Sebastian Monroy
Scientific Advisors: Alejandro Feged, Lewis Dartnell, Steve Swaby
Concept Development & Graphic Designer: Amy Johnson
Marketing Graphic Designer: I J Miller
Production Assistant: Alex McRobbie