Formication
Living installation, 2007

The installation Formication addresses the meaning and function of an individual in the sociological system of constant progress. It explores the structure of an image through layering and merging of its parts. The work consists of 6 transparent drawings positioned further from or closer to a source of light, an overhead projector. A living organism, a real ant colony, is connected to the layers of drawings, producing uncontrollable movement and functioning as a kind of error inside the image. The middle layer is the most active, being the one that is in sharp focus and through which the ants are moving in order to get to their food and back to the colony.
The overhead projector throws the final image (a construction site), together with the ants’ motion, on a large-scale wall. Viewers can observe and compare fragments of drawings and the merged image in the projection. They can follow the process of sculptural change in time since the installation is an unpredictable process, changing as the ants carry sand and food across the drawing.