Exhibition

Institute of Isolation

Lucy McRae in collaboration with Lotje Sodderland (United Kingdom)

Studio-X Istanbul

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“Could we design isolation like an architect designs a building or a chemist designs a vaccine? In designing isolation, could we augment the self beyond genetic traits, and change resilience of the brain and its patterns to become more adaptive and buoyant in the face of unknown change or extreme experience? If you think about wearing isolation, if you think about an anechoic chamber, isolating the body or yourself within a room, could you on a much smaller and immediate scale wear second skins that did a similar thing? The clunky and not skin-like spacesuit in the film is a continuation of my curiosity into space travel and human evolution. ‘How do we survive when we exit Earth?’ Augmenting the body has to become a public debate.” –LM

Institute of Isolation by “body architect” Lucy McRae is a short film exploring the effects of extreme isolation beyond Earth on evolving human capacity. A series of sensory chambers challenge McRae’s body and brain as she struggles to adapt. The film is based on the premise that we are in a different phase of evolution – driven not just by nature, but human intent. McRae contemplates if isolation could be designed to augment fundamental aspects of human resilience.