Heather Barnett filming ant activity around Observation Stations.

Observation Station

Heather Barnett discusses Observation Station, a series of interspecies interventions designed to examine how and why we look at animals, and which animals we choose to observe. The project is part of the Machine Wilderness residency programme, centred on public fieldwork developing methodologies and prototypes of ‘wilderness machines’ that engage with local environmental complexity.

In April 2022, seven artists were commissioned to undertake a residency in the context of Amsterdam’s historical zoo, ARTIS, whose mission is based on the concept of ‘Natura Artis Magistra: Nature is the teacher of art and science’. Other invited artists were: Driessens & Verstappen, Antti Tenetz, Ivan Henriques, Ian Ingram, Špela Petrič, and Thomas Thwaites, each artist focusing on different nature/technology relationships within the complex dynamics of a public-facing centre for animal conservation and education.

When invited to participate in the programme I chose to focus on the creatures that live at ARTIS incidentally, rather than the star display animals. Some of these uninvited guests are highly visible, such as the opportunistic herons which descend on the park at pelican feeding time, or the native ducks enjoying the pleasant waters and the ever-ubiquitous pigeons. Some are less immediately obvious. In the butterfly house mealy bugs try, in vain, to crawl to the abundant supply of ripe fruits but, alas, the feeding stations are designed specifically to deter the various unwelcome visitors, including mice, cockroaches and ants. The ants are everywhere, outside by the oak trees near the aquarium, under the plane trees near the forest house, up and down the fruit trees outside the insectarium – though disappointingly no ants are displayed inside. They live in the cracks of the pavements, under the trees and in the walls, making use of the rich foraging terrain that ARTIS park offers. Most of the time they are ignored or tolerated by the park staff. Some of the time they are seen as vermin and ‘managed’. Context is everything.

When I started my residency, after an unusually cold snap in April, the most active colonies were residing in the plantation areas of the gorilla house, enjoying the relative humidity. And, so, my research focused on the juxtaposition of these two uniquely different species, both highly social and exceptionally smart. In the gorilla house I built and tested Observation Stations, designed to aid the act of looking – at ants. Employing simple devices (such as magnifying lenses) and more sophisticated imaging technologies (such as endoscopy cameras and microscopes) the Observation Stations were an invitation to tune into the lives of creatures usually ignored or beyond human perceptual vision. The interventions enticed the ants from the undergrowth, offering them novel feeding platforms, and mediated between two spatiotemporal worlds, that of ants and humans. Looking at the ants also meant not looking at the gorillas, as attention was drawn away from the performative apes down into the undergrowth to follow the fluid foraging dynamics of the colony.

Observing the ants involves not observing the gorillas

My acts of observation in turn drew the curiosity of visitors and prompted numerous discussions about animal sociality, collective and individual intelligence, and the hierarchy of species (within the confines of the zoo, but also in the natural world and within cultural narratives). I ran a life drawing class, which challenged participants to observe and represent the ants, not by creating anatomically accurate portrayals, but by examining the behavioural characteristics of the individuals within the colony. The observational activity created encounters between radically different, but relatable, species.

Life drawing class observing the behavioural characteristics of ants

Life drawing, ant fictions.

Life drawing, ant trajectories.

During the Machine Wilderness research residency I set up a range of observation stations, I noted a number of ant species active in ARTIS (the most prolific were the common black ant, Lasius Niger), I filmed the behaviour observed and recorded the sounds of the ant sisterhood as they went about their business. Talking with resident scientists I learned about the foraging behaviour of other creatures and, in conversation with regular visitors, I learned about the human relationships with the nonhuman residents of ARTIS. Working in one place over time allowed me to gain a deep understanding of the behaviours observed: I grew to know the volatile family dynamics of the gorillas, map the daily activity of the ants, and observe human expectations in the act of observation. The interspecies dynamics were complex. One young female in the gorilla troop, Janka, was curious about what I was doing and would come to the glass to see what I was looking at – perhaps wondering why I wasn’t looking at her. She would often hold my gaze, sometimes for long periods of time. Eye contact would normally be seen as an aggressive challenge from a gorilla, so usually best avoided (at best, the rest of the ARTIS troop threw cursory glances towards the human visitors). I learnt from a regular visitor that Janka was reared by humans in Germany, which may explain these behaviours. The same visitor also spoke of the strong affinity she felt for the gorilla. spending hours at the window seeking some form of acknowledgement or reciprocal interaction. I was moved by the strong emotional bond that humans seek with the animals and curious about what drives them to find such a connection. I observed this need in others visiting the gorilla house, a desire to be seen, for the animal to look back.

Observation Station.

Interspecies observations.

My interventions with the ants invited people to observe their complex collective behaviour. Many people were interested in taking the time to notice and to discuss their observations, acknowledging that ant life is complex and fascinating and worthy of our gaze. Though the interest in the ants was largely intellectual, rather than emotional. Afterall, the ants don’t look back.

Magnifying devices on feeding stations.

Observation Station devices for amplifying the behaviour of ants.

Film still from The Politics of Attention

The Politics of Attention is a short film produced during the Machine Wilderness residency, exploring acts of looking and being looked at. The film, shot with an endoscopy camera, zooms in on the creatures we usually ignore and largely ignores those we usually pay close attention to, revealing a range of communication strategies and social behaviours across different scales. These small acts of looking – between gorillas, ants and humans – demonstrate something of our need to relate to other species and form relationships. The context of an historic zoo – a public machine for the observation of animals – adds layers of complexity to these dynamics. Balancing the need for financial security (an economic agenda) with the environmental needs of the animals (a conservation agenda) is a challenge for all contemporary zoos, and which the keepers at ARTIS are well aware. In a long conversation with the head keeper at ARTIS I asked what the zoo of the future would look like. After pondering the question for a while he speculated that the zoo of the future would be full of insects, as they will be the most important creatures for the continued survival of our species on this planet.

Film still from The Politics of Attention

The Politics of Attention. HD video (shot with an endoscopy camera). Duration: 6:12

© Heather Barnett 2022

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Machine Wilderness is an artistic research programme exploring technologies for the benefit of nature, organisms and the environment (based on long-term research by Theun Karelse at FoAM working in collaboration with Alice Smits of Zone2Source).

For more information about the project and other artistic responses please visit: http://machinewilderness.net/

A publication from the residency will be produced in Spring 2023.

Two interviews related to Heather’s residency can be found here: http://machinewilderness.net/heather.html

https://mater.digital/chapterone/heather-barnett/

Machine Wilderness ARTIS is supported by: Stimuleringsfonds voor Creatieve Industrie, AFK, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Bankgiro Loterijfonds, Central Saint Martins.

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All images copyright and courtesy of Heather Barnett

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Art, Creativity, Environment, Mind, Nature, video