Leaving Biosphere 2

A publication and computer game about community, growing vegetables and utopias.

Weaving together speculative narratives and historical accounts, this project takes as its starting point the scientific research facility Biosphere 2: the largest closed ecological system ever created. Completed in the early 1990s and located in the Arizona desert, eight “Biospherians” were sealed inside the three-acre glass enclosure to measure survivability.

By blending factual narratives with speculative science fiction, Holly challenges understandings of truth and performance in our everyday lives, while attempting to find new potential in flawed historical experiments. ‘Leaving Biosphere 2’ considers the feelings and emotional conflicts embedded within utopian narratives. It uses role-play, science fiction and world building exercises to foster new ways of understanding our real world existence and imagining future worlds.