The notion of respiration, encompassing air, wind, and breath, has long served as a critical medium in modern and contemporary art. Early twentieth-century artists, notably the Dada and Neo-Dada movements from Marcel Duchamp to Piero Manzoni, incorporated these intangible media to challenge conventional retinal art and question the limits of artistic form. However, in the late 1960s, the subject transitioned from a purely conceptual critique to a broader cultural inquiry. This paper aims to analyze this conceptual shift by focusing on the Italian art movement Arte Povera, whose works demonstrate a deep conceptual interest in the spontaneous act of breathing. The key figures examined include Giovanni Anselmo, Gilberto Zorio, and notably Giuseppe Penone who treats breathing as one of the most important subjects in his later works. By close examining their works, this paper clarifies Arte Povera’s unique contribution to the theme of breathing. The analysis reveals that Arte Povera’s synthesis of industrial materials and animistic thought marks a conceptual return to modes of thought that predate modern science. This methodology is best understood through the practice of bricolage. Ultimately, the paper argues that Arte Povera used the theme of respiration to establish a non-anthropocentric epistemology, challenging the Western scientific paradigm of domination over nature and the body by restoring the intrinsic value of material existence and the fundamental act of exchange.