Insecta - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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 soundrecordists
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 Grove
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. In the middle of July, Julien Salaud travelled to the beautiful Lion (France) to
talk insects, metamorphosis, life and death with Jan Fabre.
Questions by Julien Salaud Translation by Jeremie Fabre
68 When Insects Meet Michael Jackson
Noboru Tsubaki is an Associate Professor at Tezukayama Gakuin University, a lecturer at Kyoto College of Fine Arts, and the Director at the Inter Medium Institute in
Osaka. We had the opportunity to interview the artist as he prepared his work for Pestival.
Questions by Ken Rinaldo
74 The Book Eaters
One of the most anticipated artworks featured at Pestival 2009 is a collaboration between forensic entomologist Amoret Whitaker and artist/bookbinder Mark
Cockram. This merging of art and science has produced one of the most symbolically charged pieces presented in the show.
Texts by Karen Vidler, Amoret Whitaker and Mark Cockram
79 Insect Politics: Talking to the Queen Bee
Bridget Nicholls is a naturalist, broadcaster and writer. She was brought up at an animal rescue sanctuary in Sussex where feeding Bengal eagle owls, finding peacocks in
her bed and untangling frog-mating pile-ups were everyday occurrences. For over two years she has been planning Pestival, of which she is the Director. We met with Bridget
at the Southbank Centre in London to discuss the event.
Questions by Giovanni Aloi
4