Digital Parasites (2018) is an immersive, interactive installation and collaboration between Miranda Moss, Martin Wilson and Brendon Clack.
The light and sound installation was designed for a bamboo forest, and comprises a networked swarm of glowing, organic forms attached to the bamboo trunks which are responsive to the viewer’s presence.
On entering the space, the parasites become aware of the viewer and respond by altering their colours and producing a sound reminiscent of an artificial cicada. Their behaviour seems as though they are scared or disturbed by the presence of the viewer, which in turn sets off a network of interactions with adjacent parasites. This communication network between the forms appears as if one’s presence is sending ripples through the swarm.
At a closer proximity they express a more intimate response, as if they are warming up to one’s presence. A more one-on-one interaction, it becomes clear that they are individuals. The colours of the lights get warmer and their behaviour relaxes somewhat.
While being a formally beautiful and experientially magical piece, there is a darker conceptual underpinning of humankind’s effect on the environment and our fraught relationship with nature, highlighting the cost that technological progress has had on the natural world.
Photographs by Adam Hill and Spier.
More documentation to follow soon.