Spacebaby

Themes of hibernation and suspended animation in the form of a durational performance installation as part of Space Soon at the Roundhouse, London. A collaboration with the Department of Genetics, University of Leicester.

London Fieldworks’ Spacebaby made reference to the vested interest of space agencies in human hibernation, and its fictional representation in the wider culture. The artists inverted their sleeping patterns and slept within the installation during exhibition opening hours, drawing a parallel between the sleeping regimes of shiftworkers and astronauts. The laboratory installation was manned by a team of geneticists who examinined the effects of disrupted sleep upon whole genome, gene expression, with a particular interest in individuals undertaking shiftwork. Blood samples were periodically extracted from the artists and processed within the installation using Affymetrix gene chip technology, resulting in a series of images depicting the gene expression of disrupted sleep, which were incorporated into the video work, Spacebaby: Guinea Pigs Don’t Dream. Funded by Arts Council England with additional support from AHRC, University of Leicester, Affymetrix and Ambion. Spacebaby: Guinea Pigs Don’t Dream was Funded by Arts & Business (New Partners Award), AHRC and Arts Council England and sponsored by Affymextrix, Ambion, with collaborative support from Department of Genetics at University of Leicester.

Guinea Pigs Don’t Dream

Working with the writer Ken Hollings and the acousmatic composer Dugal McKinnon, LFW used documentary footage of the Spacebaby performance, along with resulting data and additional footage shot of the artists in preparation at St. Thomas’ Hospital Sleep Lab, London. The film premiered at Whitechapel Art Gallery Cinema, 4 June 2008. Spacebaby received Special Mention from VIDA 10.0 Madrid, Art And Artificial Life International Awards.

Photography by Kristian Buus.

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