|
Visitors selected the baby's character traits,
physical appearance and other features by answering questions on
a computer tablet.
They sat in sofas in a futuristic room with soft lighting and
flowing drapes, which was all part of an installation called "IVFX:
posthuman parenting in hybrid reality," created by Dutch visual
artist Victorine van Alphen.
"I had lots of deep, personal conversations that inspired me,"
Van Alphen said, including with people who wanted to have
children but couldn't, someone who had lost a child and
neighbours considering artificial insemination.
"There were lots of beautiful, inspiring conversations,
anecdotes and background discussions that formed this strange,
futuristic project," she said. "I kind of gave myself the
'mission impossible' to create a presence in virtual reality."
Among the question was whether you would allow your artificial
creation to reproduce.
"It's definitely smart," said Jennifer van Exel, discussing the
options with her partner Frouke Engel.
Their choices were then used to form a computer generated infant
- a pulsating pink creature in an incubator, which squealed and
had a red glowing heartbeat.
"I don't know if you can say it has a head. I am not sure other
people will be able to relate to it," said van Exel, peering at
the new life form through 3D goggles while singing a lullaby.
"We're the parents, so obviously we created it and you want to
be compassionate and loving, but it's nothing human so it's
really hard to actually relate to it."
(Reporting by Esther Verkaik; Writing by Anthony Deutsch;
Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
