ON THE ORIGINS OF ART I AND II

"He is about 4 mm big, she is 6mm. He is colourful and outlandish, she is not. He tries really hard to get her, she watches him. Hard to please females have driven the Maratus males to such extremes that they are the probably the first ever performance artists: they dance and choreography, drum and sing, all at the same time as they wave their colourful tails ".

Maria Fernanda Cardoso

ON THE ORIGINS OF ART I - II

" Maria Fernanda Cardoso explores the art forms of the animal world through the mating rituals of a tiny Australian spider. Her subjects are Maratus, the highly visual eight-eyed jumping spider know by the common name ‘peacock spider’. Like peacocks and birds of paradise, the male Maratus has developed a complex system of courtship display that exhibits its prowess as a dancer, musician and visual artist. Cardoso has recorded their ostentatious mating ritual using HD macro cinematography and a laser vibrometer, capturing their conspicuously colourful dance and the distinctive beat they make with their vibrating abdomens. Unlike a nature documentary’s depiction of species in their natural habitats, Cardoso films the spiders’ rituals against a stark white backdrop, emphasising the aesthetic beauty and the choreographic nature of their courtship.

Projected onto two screens on opposing walls, the male Maratus is seen waving its legs to get the female’s attention. They strut and sway to their own accompaniment – a percussive beat that is amplified as a hyper-real sound with a tactile dimension. The climax of the Maratus’ performance is the unfolding of an abdominal flap that fans out in an iridescent array of colours, like a peacock tail, which you can see more clearly in the two prints that accompany the video. If impressed by the male’s artistry, the female will allow him to approach her. In presenting an art form of performance and display that is not created by, or for, humans, Cardoso argues that humans are not alone in their production and appreciation of the arts. The performing spiders that make these artworks are the product of an evolutionary process of sexual selection that has refined and enhanced their sensory apparatus, creating a discerning aesthetic sense controlled by the females, in which each performance’s aim is to perpetuate life over to the next generation ".

MCA Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. “On the Origin of Art I and II.” Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/works/2018.13/ (18/7/2019).