Contemporary Choral Collective Los Angeles (C3LA) will perform The Universe Breathes Us
live at 5 PM during the opening reception.
On August 4th at 7pm, join us for an evening of conversation between acclaimed writer Chris
Kraus and Relational.
Shoshana Wayne Gallery is pleased to present The Universe Breathes Us, a collaborative
exhibition by Shirley Tse and Dana Berman Duff working under the name “Relational”. The
exhibition opens Saturday, July 25, with a reception from 4–6 PM and is on view through
September 3, 2026.
Ocean tides begin with a relationship. The gravitational pull between the Sun, Moon, and Earth
creates a continuous movement of water across the planet, a force generated through proximity
and exchange. For The Universe Breathes Us, Dana Berman Duff and Shirley Tse examine tidal
energy as a framework for considering the forces that emerge between bodies and celestial
forms.
The exhibition takes its title from a simple physiological reality. During inhalation, air enters the
lungs through differences in pressure between the body and the atmosphere that surrounds it.
Breathing unfolds through an ongoing negotiation between interior and exterior forces, between
the body and the world that sustains it. The term “tidal volume,” used to describe the amount of
air exchanged during a normal breath, echoes the rhythms of the ocean, linking respiration to
planetary movement.
Throughout the exhibition, the moon appears as a recurring motif, reflecting the relationship
between its colossal mass and the earth’s tides, as well as cycles of light and dark, day and night,
and ocean waves rising and falling. Across collapsible sculptures, sound, film projection, video,
photography, and installation, Relational illuminates the invisible yet indispensable forces that
move between us. Created primarily from repurposed materials and existing resources, The
Universe Breathes Us continues Tse’s commitment to a zero-impact practice.
Central to the exhibition is a collaborative composition by Alan Duff Berman and Dana Berman
Duff. Developed alongside the visual works, the song considers breathing as an act shaped by
forces beyond the body itself. A recording of live performance in Reykjavik by local singers will
continue throughout the exhibition as part of the installation, allowing the time-based nature of
the performance to remain accessible throughout the run of the exhibition.
Throughout the exhibition, breath becomes a reminder that every inhale begins with a force
arriving from elsewhere.
Hong Kong–born, California– based artist Shirley Tse works in the media of sculpture,
installation, photography, and text. Tse received a Master of Fine Arts degree from ArtCenter
College of Design, Pasadena, California, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Chinese
University of Hong Kong. Tse is a recipient of the 2026 Foundation of Contemporary Arts
Dorothea Tanning Award, the Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2024) and in 2024 she was
featured in “Phaidon’s Great Women Sculptors”. Her work has been exhibited internationally at
venues including: M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong (2020); the Pasadena Museum of California Art
(2004/2017); Osage, Hong Kong (2010/2011); K11, Hong Kong (2009); Kettle’s Yard,
University of Cambridge (2009); the Museum of Modern Fine Art, Minsk (2006); the Herbert F.
Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University (2005); Para Site, Hong Kong (2000/2005); the
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (2003); the Bienal Ceará América, Fortaleza (2002); the
Biennale of Sydney (2002); Capp Street Project, San Francisco (2002); the Institute of
Contemporary Art, Boston (2002); MoMA PS1, New York (2002); the New Museum, New York
(2002); Palazzo dell’Arengo, Rimini (2002); the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2001);
TENT, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam (2001); and Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New
Plymouth, New Zealand (2000). Her work is held in the permanent collections of M+ Museum,
Hong Kong, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, Rhode Island School of
Design Museum, Altoids Curiously Strong Collection, among others. Tse represented Hong
Kong at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. Tse received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation Fellowship in 2009 and has been on the faculty at California Institute of the Arts
since 2001.
Dana Berman Duff lives and works in Los Angeles and Mexico. She was recognized as a
Cultural Trailblazer by the L.A.Department of Cultural Affairs for 2020-21. Her artworks are
included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), the New Museum of
Contemporary Art (NYC), and a number of private collections. She’s been awarded residencies
at Foundation Kaus Australis in Rotterdam, and the American Academy in Rome. Her works in
small format film and video have been selected for a number of international film festivals,
including the Toronto Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Edinburgh
Film Festival, ExIS Festival in Seoul, the Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement in Geneva,
Rencontres Internationales (Paris/Berlin), Dortmund/Cologne International Women’s Film
Festival, and San Francisco Cinematheque’s Crossroads, among others. A POTENTIALITY was
awarded an Alice Guy Special Mention at the 2020 FIDMarseille Film Festival.
