PUPAE was born out of  the desire to combine two different art practices, Claire’s and my own, united by a common interest for the “other” and, mainly, insects. We quickly realized that the world is abundantly populated  with ants of various kinds, each species with its characteristics and peculiarities: small, large, fast, slow, peaceful, restless, nesting in different materials. An insect that we can easily find in our environment and observe without directly interacting with it, leaving it to express itself and to simply be. Furthermore, we admired its particular ability to adapt, a typical characteristic of ants, their complex way of communicating and living in a social living system.

This exhibition is a collection of attempts at relating to our neighbors. We are talking about ants, or rather, the ants here are talking to us. In the meticulousness to which they invite us, we have tried to discover their language and music, and make it play in our ear, which is morphologically very different from theirs. Listening to their “verses,” registered thanks to micro contacts, makes us reach a meeting point between the two worlds. From the dialogue with the outside world and the scientists from the Social Fluids laboratory, the discourse, as it circulates, widens with multiple curiosities and sensitivities. This varied experience creates a fusion of materialities and textures that questions the very nature of the installation. The small scale always leads to a larger one, and ants shift our gaze to other proportions and other temporalities. Becoming aware of their diversity, forging new links, new ways of perceiving and communicating is to hybridize a little more, be reborn, and dive into the swarm of complexity.

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