mind map of a fictional research team
site-specific installation. 4x6 m. mixed media. 2025.
Mindmap leaflet designed by Lukáš Karaba. 2025.
The site-specific installation takes the form of a mind map whose formal structure merges the node system of 3D software interfaces with the branching structure of the firefly’s light organ. It brings together various references that bridge speculative fiction, the limits of human perception, boids simulations of swarms and research into firefly synchrony. Combining speculative fabulation with scientific research, it searches for forms of sensitivity toward more-than-human beings and otherness. The mind map installation presents the notes of a fictional scientific team investigating the synchronous flashing of firefly swarms, a secret communication channel of this species. Despite new imaging technologies such as 3D scanning of swarms, science has not been able to explain its evolutionary significance. Why do fireflies synchronize? Or rather, why are we unable to find out? The critical flicker fusion threshold (CFF) differs across species depending on body size, and therefore on the perception of time. To the human eye, the short flashes of fireflies may resemble binary computational logic, yet they may carry complex information residing beyond our perception. The project is inspired by therolinguistics, a fictional discipline first mentioned by Ursula K. Le Guin in 1974, which aims to translate other than human communication.
Made in collaboration with Lukáš Karaba.
Theory of a Swarm, Ján Koniarek Gallery, Trnava, SK. Photo by Andrej Balco