PARALLEL TUMMY CLINIC  (2026)

"PARALLEL TUMMY CLINIC" is an immersive installation set in a future society with declining birth rates and aging population where artificial wombs have become commonplace. Viewers place themselves in 2075 society as "elderly people," experiencing and deepening discussions together about "having children" and the individual desires and social norms lurking behind it through scenarios arising from dialogue with AI and LARP (Live Action Role Playing). How could "artificial wombs that are not capital-, ethnic-, kinship-, eugenic-, or natalist-oriented, yet available to anyone once for free" be possible?

The currently existing reproductive technology of "egg freezing" is merely a temporary solution, ultimately requiring the healthy female body capable of enduring pregnancy and childbirth. Furthermore, conventional surrogacy still has ethical challenges. In such circumstances, I believe that the technology of "artificial wombs" holds the potential to bring true liberation to women. Artificial wombs not only reduce the burden of pregnancy and childbirth but also strengthen the narrative of "blood relations," while potentially avoiding artificial abortion and expanding the option of adoption. This technology appears to me not only as a highly attractive "painkiller fantasy" but may also bring new possibilities and confusion to many people, as it removes the reproductive limitations of age, health, and gender.

In 2010, when I first created the short film work "Parallel Tummy" with artificial wombs as the theme, the world was excited by the development of the internet and digital technology, with optimism about the future spreading. It was an era when many people believed that technology would change society for the better. Now in 2025, fifteen years later, the world's winds have changed dramatically. The rise of AI, climate change, the resurgence of war, and the retreat of liberal values. Furthermore, the re-emergence of former President Trump and the accompanying retreat of abortion rights have reignited debates about women's reproductive rights. And with the influence of natalist Elon Musk, who is reported to have 14 genetic children—several of whom are said to have been born through surrogacy—leading the way, I feel that a future where anxiety about advancing declining birth rates and economic contraction adds "realistic pressure" to research and introduction of artificial womb technology is steadily approaching.

In the 2023 LARP work "PARALLEL TUMMY 2073," dystopian future visions emerged, such as the revival of eugenic thought and the monopolization of the artificial womb industry by capitalism. The structure where artificial wombs establish a "new slavery" that imposes debt and labor roles from birth overlaps with my own intuitive anxieties. In this current production, which is an extension of that, I am confronting the fundamental question: "Is a different kind of artificial womb possible?"

How could "artificial wombs that are available to anyone once for free but are not capital-, ethnic-, kinship-, eugenic-, or natalist-oriented" "realistically" be possible? In the first place, why do we place hope in that, despite raising being far more difficult? Every time my realistic self mentally objects to those ideas as "lacking reality," I remember the teaching of my mentors Dunne & Raby: don't cling too closely to reality. I am now trying to reclaim the power of imagination and delusion, which tend to be lost as we become adults. While delving into the scientific and feminist history surrounding artificial wombs, the existence of women who believe in "knowledge" that has opened up new thinking through escapism and science fiction creation, including Mary Shelley and Margaret Cavendish, has accompanied me like small beacon lights.

Complete artificial wombs still need time to become widely available to the general public, and even if realized, it might be 50 years from now. In our rapidly changing present, thinking about 50 years from now is extremely difficult. However, on the other hand, structural values such as family concepts, kinship worship, capitalism, meritocracy, natalism, and nationalism are extremely difficult to change and will probably still dominate our society 50 years from now.

234 years ago, Olympe de Gouges wrote the "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen" in 1791, and in 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft authored "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman." In this long journey that continued through the suffragette movement, second-wave feminism, and ethical controversies over artificial reproductive technology, feminists are still fighting. And now again, women's rights are entering an era of backlash, and 50 years from now, someone will surely still be fighting.

Therefore, imagining a future where "different artificial wombs" are introduced is an attempt to question such deep-rooted premises themselves, and is also an act of imagination that drives a wedge into this current reality. It seems that the contours of our values regarding "what we are trying to entrust to children now" and "who constitutes family" become clearer.

"How will they utilize the nature of beings who feel loneliness?" Approaching the latter half of life, with a body past the peak of physical strength, intelligence, and reproductive capacity, while thinking "I should dispose of those frozen eggs this year," I am still perplexed and hesitant about the question of artificial wombs. This is an imperfect, parallel, single artificial womb presented amid that hesitation.

Event Overview: SHUTL Production - Ai Hasegawa Immersive Installation "PARALLEL TUMMY CLINIC"

Exhibiting Artist: Ai Hasegawa

Collaborator・Script: Yuri Yamada (Artistic Director of Theater Company Zeitaku Binbo)

Born in Tokyo in 1992. Writer, director, and actor. Founded "Zeitaku Binbo" while attending Rikkyo University. In addition to appearing in films, dramas, and commercials as an actor, she also writes novels and handles drama scripts and directing. Nominated for the Kishida Kunio Drama Award for "Fiction City" (2017) and "Mixture" (2019). Saison Cultural Foundation Saison Fellow I. Scripts for Abema TV's "17.3 about a sex" and "30 made ni to urusaku te." Script for NHK's "Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna." Participated in WOWOW's "Ningen Kowai" as scriptwriter and director.

Period: June 6 (Fri) - July 7 (Mon), 2025 Hours: 13:00-20:00 [Timed reservation system (entry every 15 minutes), final entry reception 19:00]

 Viewing Duration: Approximately 50 minutes (standard) 

※Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays 

※Please gather 5 minutes before the start (reservation) time.

 ※Only 1 group (maximum 1 person) can enter and view at a time.

 ※This exhibition requires viewers to move through the space individually according to the artwork's instructions. As you must move according to the artwork's timeline, please note that the above viewing duration cannot be shortened.

Fee: 1,500 yen [Advance reservation system, first-come-first-served] Ticket Sales Start: May 10 (Sat), 2025, 19:00 Ticket Sales: Available through ArtSticker https://artsticker.app/events/59039 Details and latest information will be announced on SNS or website.

Production: Ai Hasegawa "PARALLEL TUMMY CLINIC Guidance & Counseling" I

nteractive Production: Taku Onozato 

"From the PARALLEL TUMMY" Script: Yuri Yamada 

Video Cast: Saiyou Seki, Katsuya Tanabe, Natsue Momoto 

Video Filming/Editing: Mai Nunotani, Tomonosuke Kurachi 

Sound: Masahiko Takeda (Magazan Co., Ltd.)

 "PARALLEL TUMMY CLINIC LARP Workshop" 

Cast: Obstetrician-Gynecologist Utsuno, Shun Takeda, Yuri Yamada Video Filming: Kaori Yamane Video Editing: Tomonosuke Kurachi, Mai Nunotani

Research Cooperation: Sachiko Kiyokawa (University of Tokyo), Takayoshi Sugawara (Ginza Tatemono Newspaper), Ritsuko Nishikawa (esse-sense), Artificial Womb History Research Cooperation: Maiko Watanabe, Tomoki Nanazawa 

Sound: Masahiko Takeda (Magazan Co., Ltd.) 

Translation: Marimi Yabe 

Producer: Kanon Matsumoto (SHUTL/Magazan Co., Ltd.) 

Director: Junpei Kuroda (SHUTL/Magazan Co., Ltd.) 

Design: Minami Inoue, Aiko Furuyama (Magazan Co., Ltd.), Mai Nunotani 

Space Construction: Super Factory

Organizer: Shochiku Co., Ltd., Magazan Co., Ltd. Grant: National Tax Accountants' Mutual Aid Association Cultural Foundation Subsidy: Keio University Young Researcher Development Special Manufacturing Project by Ishii-Ishibashi Fund, Keio University KGRI Science Fiction Research and Development Implementation Center, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Academic Knowledge Co-creation Program "Imaginology for Post-Human Society"

『PARALLEL TUMMY CLINIC』は人工子宮が一般化した未来の少子高齢化社会を舞台とした没入型インスタレーションです。鑑賞者は「老人」として2075年の社会に身を置き、AIとの対話やLARP（ライブアクションロールプレイング）から生じたシナリオを通じて、「子供を持つこと」とその背景に潜む個人の欲望や社会的規範について体感し、一緒に議論を深めるための作品です。「誰でも一度は無料で使えるが、資本・民族・血縁・優生・出生主義的でない人工子宮」はどのようにありえるのか。

現状存在する生殖技術の一つ「卵子凍結」は一時的な解決策に過ぎず、最終的には妊娠や出産に耐える健康な女性の身体が必要です。さらに、一般的な代理母出産には非常に重い倫理的な課題が残っています。こうした状況において、「人工子宮」という技術が本当の解放を女性にもたらす可能性を秘めていると考えます。人工子宮は、妊娠出産の負担を軽減するだけでなく「血縁」という物語を強化する一方で、人工中絶を回避し養子という選択肢を広げる可能性もあります。この技術は、私にとって非常に魅力的な「痛み止めのファンタジー」として映るだけでなく、多くの人々にとって新たな可能性、そして混乱をもたらすのかもしれません。なぜなら年齢、健康、性別といった生殖の限界を取り払うからです。

2010年、私が初めて人工子宮をテーマにした短編映像作品《Parallel Tummy》を制作した当時、ネットやデジタルテクノロジーの発展に世界は沸き立ち、未来に対する楽観主義が広がっていました。テクノロジーは社会をより良く変える̶̶　多くの人がそう信じていた時代でした。それから15年が経った2025年の現在、世界の風向きは大きく変わっています。AIの台頭、気候変動、戦争の再燃、そしてリベラルな価値観の後退。さらに、トランプ前大統領の再浮上と、それに伴う中絶権の後退が、女性の生殖やけ権利をめぐる議論を再燃させています。そして、14人の遺伝的子をーその中には代理母を利用し出生したと言われる子も数人いるーと報じられている出生主義的なイーロン・マスクの影響力などを筆頭に、進行する少子化と経済縮小への不安が、人工子宮技術の研究や導入に「現実的な圧力」を加える未来が、着実に迫っていると感じます。

2023年のLARPワークショップ映像作品《PARALLEL TUMMY 2073》では、優生思想の復活や資本主義による人工子宮産業の独占といった、ディストピア的な未来像が浮かび上がってきました。人工子宮によって、生まれながらに借金と労働の役割を課される「新たな奴隷制」が成立する̶̶　そんな構図が、私自身の直感的な不安と重なります。

その延長線上にある今回の制作では、「そうではない人工子宮は可能か?」という根本的な問いと向き合っています。

「誰でも一度は無料で使えるが、資本・民族・血縁・優生・出生主義的でない人工子宮」は、果たしてどのようにして“現実的に”あり得るのか。そもそも、育てることのほうがはるかに困難であるにもかかわらず、なぜそこに希望を託してしまうのか。現実主義の自分が、それらのアイデアに頭の中で「リアリティがない」と反論してしまうたびに、師であるDunne & Rabyの現実に寄り添いすぎるな、という教えを思い出します。空想する力、妄想する力、大人になるにつれて失われがちなそれらを、今あらためて取り戻そうとしています。人工子宮をめぐる科学史やフェミニズム史を掘り下げるなかで、Mary Shelleyをはじめとする、現実逃避やSFの創作を通じて新しい思考を切り開いてきた「知」を信じる女性たちの存在が、小さな灯火のように寄り添ってくれました。

完全な人工子宮が一般に普及するには、まだ時間が必要で、実現するとしても50年後かもしれません。変化の激しい現在において、50年後を考えることは、非常に難しい。

しかし一方で、家族観や血縁信仰、資本主義、能力主義、出生主義、民族主義といった構造的な価値観は、変わることが極めて難しく、おそらく50年後もなお私たちの社会を支配していると考えられます。

234年前のオーランプ・ド・グージュは1791年に『女性および女性市民の権利宣言』、1792年には、メアリ・ウルストンクラフトが『女性の権利の擁護』を著し、サフラジェット運動、第二波フェミニズム、シュラミス・ファイアストーンなどの人工生殖技術の倫理的論争へと続くこの長い道のりのなかで、いまだにフェミニストたちは戦い続けています。そして今また、女性の権利はバックラッシュの時代を迎え、そして50年後にもきっと、誰かがまだ戦っているでしょう。

だからこそ、“そうではない人工子宮”が導入された未来を想像することは、そうした根深い前提そのものを問い直す試みであり、今この現実に楔を打ち込む想像行為でもあります。私たちが「今、子どもに何を託そうとしているのか」「家族とは誰なのか」といった価値観の輪郭が、よりはっきりと見えてくるように思えます。

「淋しさを感じてしまう生物の性を、彼らはどのように利用してくるのか。」人生の後半に差しかかり、体力・知力、そして生殖能力のピークを過ぎた身体で、冷凍保存した卵子を「今年こそ廃棄しよう」と思いながら、私は今もなお人工子宮という問いに戸惑い、逡巡しています。

これは、その迷いのなかで提示する、完璧ではない、パラレルな、一つの人工子宮です。