Soren Thilo Funder

Inside the earth-system science facility Biosphere 2, two huge artificial lungs are responsible for evening out the pressure in the hermetic glass construction. A large hard rubber membrane slowly dilates and contracts. Biosphere 2 was envisioned as a self-sufficient biosphere where a crew of 8 scientists – bionauts – would stay isolated for 2 years. The initial proposal of living fully self-sufficient was contested by numerous complications concerning climate, invasive species, the supply and production of oxygen and lastly nutrition. The slow starvation of the bionauts led to major crises, for all but nutritionist and crew doctor Roy Walford. For the first time in his career Walford could now research on humans the benefits of a so-called Starvation Diet, believed by him to double the life span of human beings. In Lung Chamber (Survival Horror Edition) the Biosphere 2 complex is revisited through the gaze of video game survival horror. A First Person View moves through the architecture of the science facility, caught somewhere in early CGI and survival horror gaming, as well as in the enclosed conceptual landscape of utopias, survival through science and artificial respiratory acts.