Cybele
2017 | Biodesign x Speculative Design x Design Fiction
Panayiotis Pavlides ｜ Muhamad Iqbal ｜ Maia Lyall
What if the responsibilities of growing a baby were shared?
Cybele, an interchangeable asexual incubator, envisions an artificial womb as a new mode of reproduction where families take equal part in growing a fetus. With Cybele, parents are able to create and incubate their children on shift without sexual interaction or restrictions of gender. And also, there are possibilities to share carrying the baby responsibility with other partners in an easy way.
At the beginning of fertilization, general body cells such as skin cells are extracted from multiple parents and transformed into gametes by applying iPS and IVG (in vitro gametogenesis) technologies. Later, the edited gametes are intermingled into a synthetic fertilized egg. After culturing the artificial endometrium with self-organisation cells, both the egg and the endometrium are implanted into the womb for a 40-week gestation period. Life supplements are provided through the artificial umbilical cord via blood from the parent to the foetus. During the biological process, the fusion of gametes is asexually conducted in the lab without sexual interaction.
In terms of the social communication, parents shoulder the obligations jointly by carrying the womb in turn. Accordingly, all individuals in the process experience the roles of both mother and father, which breaks or blurs the traditionally inevitable relation between the identities of mother and female. Simultaneously, this project speculates on and changes the daily scenario of a family through the asexual reproduction process.
More Info |
cybelebdc.wordpress.com
Special Thanks |
Biological Sciences Institute，University of Edinburgh
Dr. Carin Bondar
What if the responsibilities of growing a baby were shared?
Cybele, an interchangeable asexual incubator, envisions an artificial womb as a new mode of reproduction where families take equal part in growing a fetus. With Cybele, parents are able to create and incubate their children on shift without sexual interaction or restrictions of gender. And also, there are possibilities to share carrying the baby responsibility with other partners in an easy way.
At the beginning of fertilization, general body cells such as skin cells are extracted from multiple parents and transformed into gametes by applying iPS and IVG (in vitro gametogenesis) technologies. Later, the edited gametes are intermingled into a synthetic fertilized egg. After culturing the artificial endometrium with self-organisation cells, both the egg and the endometrium are implanted into the womb for a 40-week gestation period. Life supplements are provided through the artificial umbilical cord via blood from the parent to the foetus. During the biological process, the fusion of gametes is asexually conducted in the lab without sexual interaction.
In terms of the social communication, parents shoulder the obligations jointly by carrying the womb in turn. Accordingly, all individuals in the process experience the roles of both mother and father, which breaks or blurs the traditionally inevitable relation between the identities of mother and female. Simultaneously, this project speculates on and changes the daily scenario of a family through the asexual reproduction process.
More Info |
cybelebdc.wordpress.com
Special Thanks |
Biological Sciences Institute，University of Edinburgh
Dr. Carin Bondar
Dr. Neil Mcintosh
Dr. Sally Lowell
Dr. Xintao Ye
Amber Tang
Bena Pratama
Eva Auer
Joe Revans
Karen Campa
Parul Sharma
Rahma Ari Fauziah
Yan Wu
Yifan Chen
People interviewed on Grindr
Dr. Xintao Ye
Amber Tang
Bena Pratama
Eva Auer
Joe Revans
Karen Campa
Parul Sharma
Rahma Ari Fauziah
Yan Wu
Yifan Chen
People interviewed on Grindr
Biological Communication
Implantation Process
Physical Communication
User Scenarios
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