Insect Apocalypse

Insects Apocalypse is a series of multisensorial installations that delve into the concepts of solastalgia (the existential distress caused by the environmental crisis) and simulacrum (the replacement of reality by its representation) from a dystopian perspective. Each installation focuses on one particular endangered species, constructing an immersive electro-organic sound field that tries to replace the original human perception of that experience.

Insects represent 60% of the living beings on the planet, and 40% are currently disappearing. Some reports indicate that a vast majority could vanish during the next century - a global process known as the Holocene mass extinction.

Reflecting on this situation, the analog s(t)imulations that comprise Insects Apocalypse act as crude sensorial representations/landscapes of soon-to-be extinct species.

Visually, they take their inspiration from the aesthetics of an entomological exhibition, placing the different circuits under glass bells and shaping them as minimalistic insects.
On behalf of the sound, they offer an alternative narrative based on the physiological processes that generate the stridulation frequencies, not just seeking to mimic it.
Finally, the installations count on specific scent recreations (like hexanal, petrichor, or soil) that stimulate the olfactory system and act as memory triggers.

These landscapes explore Baudrillard's ideas of simulacra and simulation as a possible outcome of climate cataclysm. Reality has now been replaced by an imitation, creating a tension halfway between the organic and the electronic that places us in the uncanny valley of emotions.