Introduction

Time-lapse microscopy has been at the centre of the way we know about reproductive biology since the early 20th century, and today continues to condition how scientists create images of reproductive cells in laboratory settings. In this sense, animation techniques are key to scientific and popular understandings of both the ‘biological clock’ and the supposed challenges or urgencies of population replacement. In the context of reports of a drop in fertility rates in 11 of the 27 EU member states in the last 20 years, this research examines the use of time-lapse microscopy in imaging the reproductive cell in laboratory settings and shaping social imaginaries around fertility and reproduction more broadly. 

Aims and Objectives

• To situate present day reproductive cell and tissue imaging practices in a longer history of time-lapse microscopy and cinemicroscopy.
• To analyse the impact of the aesthetic and formal constraints of different timelapse technologies on the way in which fertility and reproduction are seen and known, with a focus on the technological status of the oocyte in lab practice.
• To address the racial, gender and sexual politics of imaging/imagining fertility and reproduction to be ‘in crisis’ in Europe.
• To contribute to a shared societal understanding of how reproductive issues –from the production of scientific knowledge about reproductive biology to questions of access to reproductive resources– stand at the centre of public health concerns.

Methodology

This research combines history of science, sensory ethnography and artistic research methodologies. Through ethnographic visits to reproductive research labs the project investigates how the biological time of the cell, the labour time of the lab experiment and a social conception of time, encompassed by the notions of ‘crisis’ or ‘decline’, link up in the use of time-lapse. The project is also grounded in artistic uses of time-lapse and employs audiovisual and animation film to reflect more broadly on how the temporalities of reproduction and re/productive work are (re)constructed in feminist and queer artistic practice (including the pursuit of utopian, epic and speculative fictional directions and dimensions).

Outputs

• Public engagement workshops

Close, R. and Matuszewski, M. (2024, November 29) Time-lapse: Science film and cinemicroscopy
A History of Science and Film Workshop at the Institute for the History of Science, UAB, Barcelona, Spain.

Close, R. (2025, April 9) Animation and the Politics of the Body

Creative animation workshop for artists and researchers, in collaboration with HAMACA Video Art Archive. Read about it on a blog post here.

Close, R. and Vlasenko, P. (2025, July-October). Metricalia.
A program of creative workshops and readings on the intersection of 20th century histories of the development of fertility metrics and changing knowledge of reproductive biology, hosted with Arts Santa Monica Museum and La Caníbal Bookshop, Barcelona, Spain.

• Abstracts and conference participation:

Close, R. (2024, July 4) The Fertility Fix and Reproductive Crisis. Historical Materialism Conference, Barcelona, Spain.

Close, R. (2025, May 8) Imaging/Imagining Reproductive Crisis in Europe. Sociological Association Ireland conference, University College Cork, Ireland.

Close, R. (2025, June 11) Fixing the Fertility Crisis. Reproductive governance and mobilities in Europe and Latin America: questioning reproductive justice and rights in a context of austerity and fertility decline, IV ReproMob Conference, Universidad Autonoma Barcelona, Spain.

Close, R. (2025, September 7). Hypothetical Thinking and the Switch On/Off Policy Solutions Model: Intervening cell cultures and human cultures 1920s/2020s. In “Public Concern about Low Fertility”. British Society for Population Studies conference, Swansea University, UK.

• Related publications

Close, R. (2024) 'The Fertility Fix: the Boom in Facial-matching Algorithms for Donor Selection in Assisted Reproduction in Spain', The New Bioethics

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20502877.2024.2371738

Close, R. (2025) 'Networks of queer reproduction in Sappho magazine (1972–1981)', Journal of Gender Studies

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09589236.2025.2458114

Funder and Dates

DOROTHY COFUND Programme (2024-2027).

https://dorothy.ie

Project Team

Dr Rebecca Close (PI). Supervisors Dr. Órla O’Donovan (UCC) and Dr. Carlos Tabernero (Autonomous University of Barcelona). Mentor Professor Amade M'charek (University of Amsterdam).

Contact: Rclose@ucc.ie