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.

Demo Play Movie of "ROOM 1: PARALLEL TUMMY CLINIC Guidance & Counseling"　(11min)

 Interactive Production: Taku Onozato