REN GEISLER

Info

Autonomous Operation

Artists’ Book, risography & wood
2024
Printmaking, Woodworking, Research

Autonomous Operation was created in response to the 2024 election results in anticipation of Project 2025 taking effect in the United States. This anti-abortion legislation will have a vast impact across the United States, restricting and refusing the right to abortion. The current post-Roe landscape has only escalated control over women’s bodies and the continued erasure of basic healthcare access.

The book functions as an operation-style board game, where players embed game pieces within a woman’s body. The player assumes the role of “doctor” and must make decisions for another’s body.

The irony lies in the illusion of agency—as soon as the reader begins to play, they become complicit in the very systems of control the work critiques. There is no option to opt out; participation mirrors the lack of choice embedded in policy.