Ant Box

Performance Installation, ants, Bare Conductive Touch Board, 2022

My work Ant Box is an bio-art installation, of which I created during the ongoing COVID lockdown.

The trapped ants, being an analogy of people during COVID lockdown, were interlinked by a common fate. They have no control over their circumstances, yet are able to sing a song under their united efforts.

As they move across the copper conductive tape, their movements trigger notes in the C minor scale. This choice of scale is a deliberate nod to Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, often referred to as the 'Fate Symphony'.

The installation uses a transparent acrylic construction, meant to expose the inner workings of the system.

The interior of the box inhabited by ants, was covered in a labyrinthine made out of conductive copper tape.

This tape is wired to a Bare Conductive Touch board housed in the box beneath, with its output linked to a speaker. Each time an ant makes contact with the tape, it activates the microcontroller, which plays a musical tone.

As clusters of ants navigate this labyrinth, their movements orchestrate a sequence of piano sounds. This turns their random scurrying into an unexpected musical performance, with each step triggering a note, creating a symphony that mirrors their collective journey within the confines of the box.