On the Origins of Art I – II, 2016. Single Channel HD video, hyper realistic sound with tactile dimension.

I’m pleased to have my artwork On the Origins of Art I – II (2016) included in the online exhibition “Status of Insects”, that was part of the annual Research Coordination Network meeting in January 2024. Here, Barrett Klein gives an improvisational tour, featuring 22 artists’ insect-themed works.

Artists featured:

Maria Fernanda Cardoso, Catherine Chalmers, Tessa Farmer, Laurent Gauthier, Elizabeth Goluch, Erika Harrsch , Cornelia Hesse-Honnegger, Marlène Huissoud, Kazuo Kadonaga, Jane Kim, Isabella Kirkland, Karen Anne Klein , Barrett Klein, Peter Kuper , Steven Kutcher , Cedric Laquieze, Harry Nankin , Laurent Seroussi , Sofia Theodore-Pierce , April Vollmer , Suze Woolf , and James Zaloudek.

More information about the annual Research Coordination Network meeting here.

About On the Origins of Art I – II:

The Maratus spiders of Australia are the most colourful, flamboyant, sexy, and charming spiders on the planet. I think if paradise existed, it would be inhabited by beautiful creatures such as these. Their use of colour, gesture, sound and movement makes them (in my opinion) amongst the most sophisticated visual and performing artists in the world. They are also the smallest performers I know of—on average about 4-6mm in size, smaller than a grain of rice.

The video series On the Origins of Art shows their incredible courtship ritual. The male has to try extremely hard (both in visual communication as well as in charm and perseverance) to be ‘chosen’ by her. She exercises her right to choose, and drives him to display an excess of vibrant colour and performance virtuosity in a complex courtship ritual.