Fertilize Me

Maja Smrekar, Gjino Šutić
Fertilize Me

In English 
Free admission

What kind of tools and processes would we need to become a more caring society? What kind of solidarity could reshape some forms of our collective bio-techno-political living?

Maja Smrekar and Gjino Šutić have been posing those questions while rendering hands-on practice-based biohacking art research in order to develop the narrative of a less invasive alternative to In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). They focused on human gonadotropin hormone, sometimes called “the pregnancy hormone” because of its important role in maintaining pregnancy. Since menopausal bodies have the highest concentration of human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG), the latter is extracted from their urine to be used within the IVF process for injecting male and female bodies in order to induce fertility. These injections help treat infertility in women and increase testosterone levels in men. 

The Fertilize Me workshop introduces the idea of freely exchanging hormones by developing low-cost citizen scientific tools that offer an alternative to the painful and expensive IVF process. At the workshop, we will extract the gonadotropin hormone out of our own urine samples and attach the extracts onto a custom-made patch to be worn on the skin. Thus we will create a space for discussion, promote scientific literacy and form a strategic alliance to employ hormones and bodily fluids as agents for utilising pharmacological and technological tools as non-invasive (bio)technologies.

The two-day workshop will take place at the Kersnikova Institute/BioTehna on Friday, 8 October, from 17.00 to 20.00, and on Saturday, 9 October, from 11.00 to 14.00. Apply by 7 October at info@kapelica.org.

Production: Kersnikova Institute in co-operation with City of Women; partners: Universal Research Institute (Zagreb), Educell, company for cellular biology, d.o.o.