Artist Brittany Ransom writes,” You are a pest, one of the most expansive, destructive, and wasteful of creatures. Together with your own kind you will run yourselves extinct. Eventually you will run out of clean air, water, space and resources to survive.”
Her piece Partnered: We Are All Pests, explores this idea through a sonic floor installation that is a 9 foot by 9 foot pine floor that houses three termite enclosures. Each of the enclosures is filled with sculpted paper forms that are primarily made from human paper waste products (newspapers, paper cups, plates, phonebooks, copies of the artists electrical and gas bills, etc.) that are structurally similar to termite colony construction.
The termites are housed in these enclosures and naturally eat away at the paper forms. As termites consume paper, they digest them and naturally release hydrogen gas, a process which takes human wastes and transforming and recycling them into usable materials. This process of the release of this hydrogen gas and its production through the bacteria in the termite’s body is currently being investigated as a potential source of energy by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The viewer is invited to stand, sit, or lay on the custom sonic floor. By standing on or engaging with the piece, the sound of the termites decomposing the paper waste forms is amplified and heard acoustically by the viewers in real time. The floor becomes a sonic plane.
The piece explores levels of decay, human waste, and explores how humans can collaborate with other species to create renewable energy. The piece recently got Honorable Mention in the Creative Divergence showcase, an online showcase of experimental creative works. You can read more about Ransom’s work on her website, and also see a video on Vimeo where you can hear the termites, and see individuals interacting with the work.
Image Source:
brittanyransom.com
Links:
Partnered: We Are All Pests – Video Documentation