About

NEST:Traces

Since 2011 we have been collaborating with other species by collecting traces of termite nests, closely observing sea porpoise tidal swirls, seeing with Watari crab compound eyes and more on Shodo Island. For Taoyuan we are expanding the scale of these micro-relations between humans and other species for humans to experience life as another species within the local coastal ecosystem.

This social sculpture artwork "Nest: Traces" by The Termites engages with archival traces of more than human species in the coastal marine ecosystems of Xinwu. As artist symbionts we turn as humans to work with living archives composed of footprints from horned ghost crabs, blue striped hermit crabs, squirts, algae, birds, barnacles, and other multispecies kin.

The Termites (2022- ) is an artistic collective of twelve human and countless more than human members whose aim is to encourage creative interspecies relations. In symbiosis with highly social insects our individual roles aid each other to thrive as a collective we conduct artistic research on more than human ecosystems to share ways humans can learn from other species.

Scout ants James Jack (Waseda University) Masashi Echigo (Kamiyama Marugoto College) and Elica Masuya traverse the boundaries between human and other species. Harvester ants including Qiutong Zhai and Yi Qian Chan explore resonances between accessibility and expanded temporalities. Collaborator Xiaojing Wang is an artist working with youth-centered design perspectives.

The Termites collective foster co-creation with insect, animal, vegetal and more than human kin through community workshops, artist residencies, publications, open studios, exhibits and ongoing creative experiments on Shodoshima (Seto Inland Sea, Japan).

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