Verbal Description: Theo Triantafyllidis, BugSim (Pheromone Spa), 2023

Narrator: The live software simulation BugSim (Pheromone Spa) creates an ever-changing digital, surreal environment that depicts the inside of a rectangular terrarium. This work is shown here across six screens arranged in two long horizontal rows, one above the other. The artist, Theo Triantafyllidis, created a soundtrack that is a whirring, atmospheric score with bubbling and swooshing noises that track the environment’s inhabitants, humidity, and condensation. In the scene, a colony of ants is painstakingly building a home  out of clusters of bumpy, rock-like arches in a warm purple color, resembling a blend of coral and stacked stones. The constantly crumbling formations create a sense of flow and movement, as the ants rebuild them. The textures are detailed, with each lump and surface clearly defined, adding to the visual richness of the digital landscape. The software uses so-called ant colony optimization algorithms to make the virtual ants find their paths. These algorithms mimic the trails of pheromones — the chemicals acting like hormones that ants secrete — to guide the insects’ movements.

Throughout the simulation, a range of green plants and vivid purple flowers grow from between the purple clusters. The plants sway gently, simulating the movements of actual vegetation, morphing slowly. Bugs creep around the terrarium: a mantis, and a black spider, descending on a fine web thread, are praying on other insects, while yellow butterflies and robotic bees flit around the plants. All together, they create a micro-ecosystem.

Above and behind this scene, the background is softly illuminated with white, horizontal light bars, emphasizing the artificial nature of the terrarium setting. Soft, wispy mist drifts near the base of the terrarium.

As an invisible camera traverses the scene, the view transitions between different angles, slowly panning across the scene to reveal more details, such as the textures of the rocks, the delicate veins of the flowers, and the intricate movements of the insects. When the view zooms in more closely, the subtle head of a monstrous creature appears on the edge of visibility in the background, as if something is hovering just outside of the digital terrarium watching the scene unfold. This figure is a pale purple, with a skull-like head and yellow reptilian eyes.