Deepa Mann-Kler Reclaims Menopause as Power in SXSW XR Experience The Baby Factory Is Closed

For years, menopause has been framed in Western culture as decline.

https://youtu.be/chYDdq_m-P0

Symptoms are medicalized. Aging women are often pushed to the margins of public life. And conversations around the experience remain surprisingly rare, despite the fact that half the population will go through it.

With her immersive virtual reality experience The Baby Factory Is Closed, creator Deepa Mann-Kler wants to challenge that narrative.

Premiering in the SXSW XR program, the project reimagines menopause not as loss, but as transformation.

A Manifesto, Not a Metaphor

For Mann-Kler, the title itself was never subtle.

“The Baby Factory Is Closed” was always meant to be a manifesto.

The idea had been developing for nearly a decade, rooted in her own personal journey through menopause. An earlier prototype project explored similar themes, but the new work expands that vision into a fully immersive experience that invites audiences to confront the subject in an entirely new way.

Instead of silence or shame, the project presents menopause as renewal, wisdom, and power.

Why Virtual Reality

The decision to tell the story through VR was deliberate.

Virtual reality allows audiences to experience embodiment in ways traditional media cannot. In The Baby Factory Is Closed, participants become part of the story itself.

Inside the experience, viewers enter the body of the protagonist, Zora. As they navigate the narrative, they confront the systems that have historically attempted to control and medicalize women’s bodies.

The result is not just storytelling. It is participation.

A Multi-Sensory Experience

The project also pushes the boundaries of immersive storytelling through technology.

Participants wear a haptic vest, allowing them to physically feel the rhythm of the experience. Biometric feedback captures heart rate and directly influences the story. Even scent is integrated into the environment to create a fully sensory journey.

The goal is simple: engage not just the mind, but the body.

Menopause and the Systems Around It

While the project centers on menopause, Mann-Kler places it within a much larger context.

The experience examines the intersection of feminism, colonial medicine, climate change, and cultural silence. Rising temperatures in the climate crisis echo the body’s own heat surges during menopause. Systems of power that once controlled colonized bodies also shaped medical narratives around women’s health.

These connections create a story that is both deeply personal and politically charged.

Breaking the Silence

One of the most striking realities Mann-Kler encountered during the project was how little information exists around menopause.

Despite affecting millions of women globally, research remains limited.

In fact, studies into male baldness have historically received more attention than menopause.

The lack of research has real consequences. Women between the ages of forty six and fifty five experiencing perimenopause face one of the highest suicide risks among demographic groups.

For Mann-Kler, that statistic alone underscores why the conversation must change.

A Celebration of Power

Despite its heavy themes, The Baby Factory Is Closed is not meant to be bleak.

At its heart, the experience celebrates the strength and wisdom that can come with age.

Older women, Mann-Kler argues, can be among the most powerful forces in society when their voices and knowledge are embraced rather than dismissed.

The XR project invites audiences to see menopause through that lens.

Not as an ending.

But as a beginning.