Closed Reality — Embryo
The project is an interactive game played on the Internet where two users, choosing among different genetically determined traits, create virtual embryos – their own virtual progeny.
Multidisciplinary art project, 1999 – 2000
Authors: Andreja Kulunčić (visual artist, project manager and concept) / Trudy Lane (designer) / Gabrijela Sabol (sociologist) / Matija Pužar (programmer) / Ivo Martinović (photographer)
The created embryos are exhibited in an “embryo gallery”, and all data is stored in the database, http://embryo.inet.hr/gallery
In the second phase of the project, the society of virtual people created by Internet users is compared with the inhabitants of a “real” society.
In 1999, the project was simultaneously exhibited in the Miroslav Kraljević gallery in Zagreb and at the International Video and Media Art Festival VIPER in Switzerland, which allowed visitors on both exhibitions to create virtual embryos with an unknown player (partner) on the other side.
During the first six months of the project, presentations and discussions on the topic of cloning and genetic engineering were organized at the Center for Women’s Studies in Zagreb, at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, at the Palach club in Rijeka, at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Zagreb, at the Otok gallery in Dubrovnik and at Peace Studies in Zagreb.
After six months, the results of the project were presented at an exhibition in the Miroslav Kraljević gallery (from April 11 to 21, 2000). The work continued with evening talks and lectures on the application of genetic engineering to humans. The intention was to shed light on the problem from multiple aspects with the help of experts from different fields of science. At the “for and against” discussions, experts who have a positive attitude towards the change in genetic engineering confronted those who pointed out possible problems in its development. All those interested are invited to participate in the conversation after the lecture, as well as to present their thoughts and views via mailing list, video recordings, at discussions…
The project exhibition in the gallery was set up as an active workspace where the presented materials created in the project — statistics, books, video recordings of lectures and discussions, CD-ROM and Internet site — were available to visitors for research.
The project has participated in over 20 different exhibitions and festivals around the world, among the most significant are the Youth Biennale in Rome, the Mediaterra Festival in Athens, the Media Arts Festival in Osnabruck (Germany), the FILE Festival in Sao Paolo, the Ambijenta exhibition in Sarajevo, the exhibition in Brewery Project in Los Angeles, the Double Life exhibition in Vienna, the Tell a Story exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, at the India Triennial…