Credit: Mary Maggic, Byron Rich
Mary Maggic (US), Byron Rich (US)
The interdisciplinary project Open Source Estrogen combines biohacking and “speculative design”* to show the public the dominance and biological power of the hormone estrogen.
What if we could produce estrogen ourselves in the kitchen?
The project raises this and other entirely relevant questions seriously, yet also with humor: Who produces hormones? Whose bodies are affected by this? How toxic have hormones meanwhile become in our environment? While questions of body and gender sovereignty are heatedly discussed today, the petrochemical, agriculture and pharma industries are responsible for the way we are increasingly surrounded by “xenoestrogens”**.
These are an example of the way nature can be formed, but they deviate from our conventional notions of “normality.” Open Source Estrogen creates a new subjectivity in an increasingly “queer” world. With the combination of DIY/DIWO (do-it-yourself/do-itwith- others), biohacking and art installation, the project seeks to prompt a public dialogue.
* Speculative design is a research-oriented, experimental design approach that goes back to the British designers and professors Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby.
** Xenoestrogens are synthetically produced combinations with estrogen-like effects, which affect the appearance and functional processes of the body.
