YOU:MATTER at National Science and Media Museum

The newly reopened National Science and Media Museum presents YOU:MATTER, an immersive experience that dives into the ways we are inherently connected to the universe.

Astronomer Carl Sagan once said that “we are all made of star stuff” and the artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) visualises this very idea with a spectacular display commissioned for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.

The experiential artist collective works to tell stories that “tickle senses and shift perceptions” in the form of immersive experiences, film and XR (which encompasses virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies). Their focus is often on the natural world and how, when we really look closely, it reveals a breathtaking and otherworldly beauty.

YOU:MATTER combines immersive sound, video and real-time interactivity, inviting audiences to explore connectedness – the ingredients of life large or small, from the Big Bang to our daily lives at this moment, and how they are all connected. You will take a journey around the world and beyond, from seeing yourself as part of a vast web of biodiversity, to following a single waterdrop, seeing the Earth breathing and interacting with a digital forest. The attention to detail and grand scale of the project work together to make this such a profound experience, one that can both ground you and make you feel a connection with the past, present and future all at once.

The installation also has a local element, taking inspiration from Born in Bradford, a major research project tracking the lives of more than 60,000 people across the area since 2007. It’s perfectly placed in the National Science and Media Museum too, an institution dedicated to exploring how new media shapes our world and the way we interact with it – MLF’s work uses cutting-edge technology to reveal the invisible cycles and patterns of the universe.

MLF have exhibited internationally at events and institutions including Sundance Film Festival, Barbican Centre, Cannes Film Festival and Factory International. Their previous works include: Evolver, a 360º audio-visual world devised as a VR experience that has since grown into a multiscreen installation and a deep listening meditation; Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest, a large-scale installation designed to inspire the feeling of awe when faced with the majestic Ceiba Pentandra tree from the Colombian Amazon; and Forest Bathing: Lupuna, a multi-sensory installation that features video, rain machines, mist, spatial audio and custom-built furniture in the shape of lily pads to encourage a sense of tranquillity for open-eyed meditation. These examples provide a taste of the kind of immersive experience visitors can expect from YOU:MATTER, right here on our doorstep.

While YOU:MATTER is a feast for the senses it also carries an important message that, although often repeated, is rarely visualised – from atoms to planets, we and everything around us really are all connected and it all started with the same cosmic explosion.