Baby Work

BABY WORK is the 3rd edition of Cheang's LOCKER BABY PROJECT which consist of: BABY PLAY (2001, NTT[ICC], Tokyo) and BABY LOVE (2005, Palais de Tokyo, Paris). The Locker Baby project conceived in 2001 reflects a time when bioscience is accused of out of control and scifi fantasia brings forward the future. Deriving from Ryu Murakami's noted novel Coin Locker Babies (1980) of post-war Japan , the Locker Baby Project further contests the mother’s heart beats that are so desired for clone babies born out of lockers. A fictional scenario set in 2030 - the transnational DPT (DollyPolly Transgency) produces and engages clone locker babies in negotiating human "Memory" and "Emotion”. The clone baby holds the key to retrieve the networked inter-sphere of ME-data embedded in a playfield of sonic imagery triggered only by human interaction. In BABY PLAY, an oversized baby football field with clone baby players; in BABY LOVE, a ride in 6 motorized fairground teacups with love song remixed by clone babies; in BABY WORK, the public are assigned as clone babies themselves, abandoned in the Etrash field filled with defunct, discarded keyboards. You are the Baby. WORK. The public adorned in white surgery gloves walk about the etrashscape to collect shattered keys. Each key is then placed ( a la scrabble game) on an intelligent metal plate wall which is wired and programmed to produce sound notes as each key is attached. Collectively, the public assembles letters, words, icons that make up the ME-data.