Tweet
Uhhh....there is an image associated with this story, but I'd rather you click the link to see it 
Link....
Link....
An artist's menstruation machine
Most women suffer with cramps and bleeding for a few days every month. Most also accept menstruation as a fact of life. Not so Japanese-British artist Sputniko!, who thinks that, in this day and age, this bloody bastion of biology shouldn't be limited to ladies. To change that, she dreamt up a machine to share the experience with those who weren't born with the required equipment. With the help of obstetrician Jan Brosens in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, she designed a wearable device that has a blood dispensing mechanism and uses electrodes to stimulate abdominal muscles, simulating menstrual cramps.
In her video piece, Menstruation Machine, Takashi's Take, a boy curious to dress up as a woman - both biologically and physically - dons the metal contraption about his waist. Before it falls into a grimace, as the "cramps" apparently begin, the expression on his face is one of surprise.
This newest art project follows on from Sputniko!'s video Child Producing Machine, in which she sings, "Just to leave my DNA, is it really worth this pain?" and insists she would rather be a cyborg than suffer her biology. That project, the artist says, was in part a response to a 2007 remark by Japanese health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, in which he referred to women as "child-bearing machines".
Turning this idea on its head by showing a man purposefully inflicting period pain on himself, Menstruation Machine is rooted in the argument that menstruation is superfluous. As the artist points out, when the pill was first designed, it incorporated a menstruating week into a four-week cycle. Since then several different contraceptive pills that greatly reduce the yearly number of periods have been developed. Some researchers even argue that having fewer periods is better for women's health, as today's women, on average, begin menstruating earlier and childbearing later in life than previous generations - resulting in more total years of menstruation and an associated increase in risk for health complications from uterine fibroids to anemia.
Women the world over might curse the monthly arrival of "the curse", but with her art, Sputniko! takes it a step further, answering the question of whether women should banish that time of the month with an adamant, "Why ever not?"
Menstruation Machine is currently part of the Talk to Me exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has been nominated for the Signature Art Prize for contemporary visual art in Asia-Pacific nations.
Most women suffer with cramps and bleeding for a few days every month. Most also accept menstruation as a fact of life. Not so Japanese-British artist Sputniko!, who thinks that, in this day and age, this bloody bastion of biology shouldn't be limited to ladies. To change that, she dreamt up a machine to share the experience with those who weren't born with the required equipment. With the help of obstetrician Jan Brosens in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, she designed a wearable device that has a blood dispensing mechanism and uses electrodes to stimulate abdominal muscles, simulating menstrual cramps.
In her video piece, Menstruation Machine, Takashi's Take, a boy curious to dress up as a woman - both biologically and physically - dons the metal contraption about his waist. Before it falls into a grimace, as the "cramps" apparently begin, the expression on his face is one of surprise.
This newest art project follows on from Sputniko!'s video Child Producing Machine, in which she sings, "Just to leave my DNA, is it really worth this pain?" and insists she would rather be a cyborg than suffer her biology. That project, the artist says, was in part a response to a 2007 remark by Japanese health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, in which he referred to women as "child-bearing machines".
Turning this idea on its head by showing a man purposefully inflicting period pain on himself, Menstruation Machine is rooted in the argument that menstruation is superfluous. As the artist points out, when the pill was first designed, it incorporated a menstruating week into a four-week cycle. Since then several different contraceptive pills that greatly reduce the yearly number of periods have been developed. Some researchers even argue that having fewer periods is better for women's health, as today's women, on average, begin menstruating earlier and childbearing later in life than previous generations - resulting in more total years of menstruation and an associated increase in risk for health complications from uterine fibroids to anemia.
Women the world over might curse the monthly arrival of "the curse", but with her art, Sputniko! takes it a step further, answering the question of whether women should banish that time of the month with an adamant, "Why ever not?"
Menstruation Machine is currently part of the Talk to Me exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has been nominated for the Signature Art Prize for contemporary visual art in Asia-Pacific nations.
Comment