A futuristic, genderless child needing collective care? Meet Reborn

Reborn, an online interactive project by Moscow-based artist German Lavrovsky, imagines an alternative to the family unit.

Presented on Garage Museum of Contemporary Art’s new platform Garage Digital, the multimedia work exists in several parts: as a 3D model of a futuristic baby that takes the form of a shimmering coral shape, and as a 30-minute video of a discussion where the baby is passed from person to person.

In his work, Lavrovsky suggests a form of childcare that erases hierarchy. There is no longer a “parent” and “child”, and as a result the infant’s development is radically fluid — unrestricted by gender and societal norms.

Despite its futuristic aesthetic, the project is actually based on the ideas of a 1920s Soviet orphanage called International Solidarity. Its founder, psychoanalyst Vera Schmidt, believed that an orphanage should function as a place for experimentation, exploration, and interaction between children, rather than as an institution that disciplines children through punishment.

Beyond reinventing childcare, Lavrovsky explains that his project envisions “new practices of coexistence with each other” not just between humans but “other species” and “future technologies.”

Learn more about Reborn and virtually play with the infant here.