Antennae Issue 11 - Autumn 2009 ISSN 1756-9575 Insecta Tessa Farmer The Horned Skullship Gavin Broad Anonymous Doors Gary Genosko Our Lady of Mimicry Maria Fernanda Cardoso In Conversation With Maria Fernanda Cardoso Cornelia Hesse-Honegger Heteroptera Mysoon Rizk Taking the ‘S’ out of ‘Pest’ Susana Soares: Pavlov’s Bees Chris Watson The Sound of the Microworld Jan Fabre The Art of Metamorphosis Noboru Tsubaki When Insects Meet Michael Jackson Mark Cockram and Amoret Whitaker The Book Eaters Bridget Nicholls Insect Politics: Talking to the Queen Bee Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture Editor in Chief Giovanni Aloi Academic Board Steve Baker Ron Broglio Matthew Brower Eric Brown Donna Haraway Linda Kalof Rosemarie McGoldrick Rachel Poliquin Annie Potts Ken Rinaldo Jessica Ullrich Advisory Board Bergit Arends Rod Bennison Claude d’Anthenaise Lisa Brown Chris Hunter Karen Knorr Paula Lee Susan Nance Andrea Roe David Rothenberg Nigel Rothfels Angela Singer Mark Wilson & Bryndís Snaebjornsdottir Global Contributors Sonja Britz Tim Chamberlain Lucy Davies Amy Fletcher Carolina Parra Zoe Peled Julien Salaud Paul Thomas Sabrina Tonutti Johanna Willenfelt Proofreading Lisa Brown Front Cover: Jan Fabre Terre de la montée des anges (Beter één vis op het droge, dan tien in de lucht) - 1997, Buprestids on iron wire, 50 x 70 x 150 cm Private collection, Belgium, photography Attilio Maranzano ! Jan Fabre 2 EDITORIAL ANTENNAE ISSUE 11 t is no secret that insects are one Antennae’s favourite subjects. In 2007, the publishing of our first double issue dedicated to insects firmly assessed Antennae as an alternative publication fierce enough to invest vast amounts of publishing space on ‘underground themes’. Our ‘Insect Poetics’ volumes are still the most downloaded from our back catalogue. However, insects still are a difficult subject: in mass-culture they are substantially organised through the dichotomic division between ‘the useful’ and ‘the pest’. Whilst in the field of animal-studies they suffer from neglect as great scrutiny is reserved to mammals and other animals that can return the gaze. The emblematic moment in which Jacques Derrida, emerging from the shower, found himself being looked at by his cat (another mammal), has predominantly shaped the methodologies and approaches of most of the past and current academic speculation on animals and our relationships with them. The main questions triggered by the encounter highlighted the presence of an insurmountable communicational abyss between man and animal. From this point onward, the concept of the ‘return of the gaze’, extensively contributed to the revisioning of the animal (mammals that is) from object to subject and more recently to ‘becoming’. Discussing the return of the gaze in relation to a butterfly’s compound eyes seems however to reveal the limitations involved in this approach. Is the abyss here too wide and too deep? Are there productive opportunities involved in these encounters, exchanges and relationships too? In the attempt of bringing material forward that may be used to answering these questions, this issue of Antennae looks at some of the most challenging and interesting contemporary artists working with insects. The “excuse” for ‘Insecta’ to be released right now is Pestival 2009, “A festival celebrating insects in art, and the art of being an insect” which took place at London’s Southbank Centre this September. Pestival’s aim is to examine insect-human interactivity in bioscience through paradigms of contemporary art, cinema, music and comedy as well as through direct scientific demonstration and educational projects. We closely worked with Pestival’s Director Bridget Nicholls to interview a large number of artist involved in the event. As a result we spent our time talking to artist Tessa Farmer, whose fairies continue to bewilder international audiences. Never so much in my life, I have rubbed my eyes in front of an artist’s work! Together, we went to the Natural History Museum in London to discuss insects, the infamous parasitic wasps, museum collections and displays with entomologists Andy Polaszek and Gavin Broad. There, we also met with Amoret Whitaker, a forensic entomologist and Mark Cockram, an artist/bookbinder, who together are working on a very interesting project involving paper-eating beetles. The issue takes Pestival as a platform to also present the work of internationally renowned artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso, a leading Latin American artist who has built a reputation with her flea circus. ‘Insecta’ then takes us to the bear fields surrounding Chernobyl’s nuclear power-station looking for heteropteras with Cornelia Hesse- Honegger, whose stunningly executed watercolours functions as an interface between art and science playing witness to a beautiful but endangered nature whilst generating awareness of the miniscule mutations that could be symptoms of much bigger things to come. From Chernobyl to New York, Mysoon Rizk takes us through a truly fascinating investigation of the presence of insects in the work David Wojnarowicz who is recognized as one of the most potent artistic voices of his generation. Mark Watson, who shot to ‘underground fame’ as founding member of the electronic music pioneers Cabaret Voltaire in 1971 and is now one of the most prestigious sound-recordists in the world, talked to us about the challenges and rewards of recording insects. ‘Insecta’ would have not been complete without an interview with Jan Fabre; one of the most eclectic artists on the contemporary art scene, who since a show at The Louvre Museum in 2008, has entered the sphere of major artists and is currently amongst those representing Belgium at the Venice Biennale 2009. In the middle of July, Julien Salaud, one of our most dedicated Global Contributors, travelled to the beautiful city of Lion in France to talk insects, metamorphosis, life and death with the artist. Giovanni Aloi Editor in Chief of Antennae Project 3 CONTENTS ANTENNAE ISSUE 11 5 The Horned Skullship It’s a warm summer day in London and artist Tessa Farmer and Antennae’s Editor Giovanni Aloi decided to spend the day at the Natural History Museum in London talking parasitic wasps, art, museum collections and displays with entomologists Gavin Broad and Andy Polaszek. How else would you spend one of the rare sunny days of London’s summer ? Text by Tessa Farmer, Gavin Broad, Andy Polaszek and Giovanni Aloi 15 Anonymous Doors Gavin Broad opens the doors oF the Natural History Museum collection and tells us how Tessa Farmer’s Fairies are as real as real parasitic wasps. Text by Gavin Broad 18 Our Lady of Mimicry Maria Fernanda Cardoso is a leading Latin American artist who has built a reputation on her unconventional use oF materials including insects in her work that involves sculpture installation, video and perFormances. Here, Gary Genosco discusses Maria Fernanda Cardoso’s work From the perspective of his collaboration on her Forthcoming show Emu Wear due in January 2010. Text by Gary Genosko 22 In Conversation with Maria Fernanda Cardoso Colombian-born, Sydney-based artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso’s work continues to attract attention around the world because of her use oF unconventional natural objects. These raw materials, with their potent symbolism, create works oF great beauty, which recall patterns that exist in the natural world as well as minimalist sculpture, where simple elements are repeated to create more complex Forms. Her abstract compositions using insect parts oFten integrate references to mythical symbols in pre- Colombian culture and Cardoso's work has in the past been described as a contemporary alternative to the tradition oF still-liFe painting. Text by Sonja Britz 29 Cornelia Hesse-HoneGGer: Heteroptera The watercolors oF deformed insects by Cornelia Hesse-Honegger are an eerily beautiFul reminder oF the Fragility oF the natural world. Her work Functions as an interFace between art and science; it plays witness to a beautiFul but endangered nature whilst generating awareness oF the miniscule mutations that could be symptoms oF much bigger things to come. Questions by Giovanni Aloi Text by Cornelia Hesse-Honegger 37 TakinG the ‘S’ out of ‘Pest’ David Wojnarowicz is recognized as one oF the most potent artistic voices oF his generation mainly because his singular artistic achievements place him Firmly within a long-standing American tradition oF the artist as visionary, rebel and public Figure. Here, Mysoon Rizk looks at the presence oF animals in his work; especially that oF insects. Text by Mysoon Rizk 51 Susana Soares: Pavlov’s Bees Susana Soares studied at the MA Design Interactions course at the Royal College oF Art in London and is a US-based designer whose work involves the studying oF insects and their interactions with us. Over the past Few years, she studies bees and in particular the way they can be trained to use their smell and detect almost anything including bombs and landmines. Questions by Zoe Peled 57 The Sound of the Microworld Chris Watson shot to ‘underground Fame’ as Founding member of the electronic music pioneers Cabaret Voltaire in 1971 and is now one oF the most prestigious sound- recordists in the world. His work on Film, documentaries, games and music has over the years set the bar For industry and creative standards in the Field oF sound recording. Here we talk to him about recording, insects and what it means to capture ‘the sound oF the microworld’. Questions by Eric Brown and Sara Groves 60 The Art of Metamorphosis: Jan Fabre Jan Fabre is one oF the most eclectic artists on the contemporary art scene. He is an artist, playwright, stage director, choreographer and designer whose work has been strongly inFluenced by an unconventional interest in animals and the natural world. Since a major show at The Louvre Museum in 2008, Fabre has entered the sphere of major artists and is currently amongst those representing Belgium at the Venice Biennale 2009.