Mixing entomology and media art, En Masse was an interdisciplinary, interspecies project by Alison Reiko Loader and Christopher Plenzich that explored the secret lives of forest tent caterpillars. Bringing together science and art, human and animal, subject and object, a set of displays featured videos, drawings, and performances made about, and with, the M. disstria moth, significantly during its larval form. Along with time-lapse and microscopic footage imaging the life cycle of the insect and its manipulations in the laboratory and under the camera, En Masse considered the agential potential of caterpillars as innately social, communicative and creative. Forest tent caterpillars spin communal silk mats and forage together—forming queues and clusters as they seek, eat and recover in preparation for their dramatic transformation to adulthood. For En Masse, insects and humans made charcoal drawings and living paintings, captured on videos that project onto screens made of cocoons. Drawing further connections between who can see and be seen, Loader and Plenzich frequently inhabited the display themselves. As they studied, took breaks, and cared for insects hatched on site, they invited viewers to ask questions and join them inside the vitrines, expanding En Masse as a network of social animals.
En Masse Exhibition Documentation
filmed and edited by Alison Reiko Loader and Christopher Plenzich
filmed and edited by Alison Reiko Loader and Christopher Plenzich
En Masse exhibited for six weeks (20 April-29 May, 2015) at FOFA Gallery in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Works from this show have been re-exhibited in different variations and smaller scales in multiple international shows.
Caterpillar Choreography
by Alison Reiko Loader, Christopher Plenzich, and M.disstria Caterpillars
by Alison Reiko Loader, Christopher Plenzich, and M.disstria Caterpillars
Caterpillar choreography featured projections onto handmade, raw silk (caterpillar cocoon) screens, of forest tent caterpillars following painted pheromone trails.
Raw Scientific Research Notes
Raw scientific research notes and tools were on display in an open section of the exhibit. Onlookers were invited in to ask questions about the research and art. Alison and Chris remained "on display" for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, during the entire duration of the exhibit.
Caterpillar Viewing Boxes
by Alison Reiko Loader and Christopher Plenzich
by Alison Reiko Loader and Christopher Plenzich
Raw Silk Lab Coats
by Alison Reiko Loader, Christopher Plenzich, & pk langshaw
by Alison Reiko Loader, Christopher Plenzich, & pk langshaw
Caterpillar viewing boxes housed live caterpillars which were reared on site and later used for scientific research. Alison and Chris can be seen wearing lab coats made of raw silk, a silk similar to that which the caterpillars use to spin their cocoons.
Caterpillar Cartography
by Alison Reiko Loader, Christopher Plenzich, and M.disstria Caterpillars
by Alison Reiko Loader, Christopher Plenzich, and M.disstria Caterpillars
Caterpillar cartography features drawings created by placing the caterpillars in non-toxic charcoal dust and allowing them to walk across paper according to their own predilections, essentially mapping their movement.
Mass Transit
by Alison Reiko Loader, Christopher Plenzich, and M.disstria Caterpillars
by Alison Reiko Loader, Christopher Plenzich, and M.disstria Caterpillars
When the forest tent caterpillar moth reaches maturity, it emerges without a mouth. It can’t eat, is an inefficient flyer, and if it manages to survive predation and weather, it has only days to find a partner and mate before dying of old age or starvation. On the other hand, in its larval stage, the baby caterpillar spends weeks with hundreds of its siblings—who molt, rest and warm on communal silk mats, and forage together—mapping trails to viable food sources, because caterpillars are always hungry and almost always eating. Mass Transit features the time-lapse and live action video of forest tent caterpillars shot in May 2014. The film features insects following pheromone trails painted on paper by Alison Loader and Christopher Plenzich, using the caterpillars' predilections to choreograph their movement. Though driven by instinct, the caterpillars nevertheless express individual behaviours, speeds, and directions. Busily following trails that ultimately circle back on themselves, their movements remind us of human migration. The chaotic, yet seemingly organized, collective movement of these caterpillars are therefore reminiscent of daily commutes taken by people.
Exhibitions
NSERC Action (online), March 8, 2016
Performigrations, Mobile Interventions: Montreal, Canada; Bologna, Italy; Klagenfurt, Austria; Vancouver, Canada; Athens, Greece; Toronto, Canada; Lisbon, Portugal; La Valletta, Malta; April 2015-March 2016
WeSauce “Circles|This World of Ours [Mass Transit remixed]," (online), 24 April 2015.
Toronto Urban Film Festival (Toronto, Ontario), September-November 2014
Performigrations, Mobile Interventions: Montreal, Canada; Bologna, Italy; Klagenfurt, Austria; Vancouver, Canada; Athens, Greece; Toronto, Canada; Lisbon, Portugal; La Valletta, Malta; April 2015-March 2016
WeSauce “Circles|This World of Ours [Mass Transit remixed]," (online), 24 April 2015.
Toronto Urban Film Festival (Toronto, Ontario), September-November 2014
Workshops
Caterpillar Tea Party: Workshop which included science demonstrations and live Caterpillar Choreography
Screen Making: Workshop for making silk screens as seen in Caterpillar Choreography
Caterpillar Drawings: Live, hand-on demonstration of Caterpillar Choreography with research caterpillars
Screen Making: Workshop for making silk screens as seen in Caterpillar Choreography
Caterpillar Drawings: Live, hand-on demonstration of Caterpillar Choreography with research caterpillars
En Masse was made at Concordia University’s Departments of Biology, Communication Studies, the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, the Centre for Digital Arts, and Fine Arts Research Facilities. Thanks to Emma Despland, Tagny Duff, Jessica Ethier, pk langshaw, Jackie Peters, Molly Ann Rothschild, Kim Sawchuk, and CUPFA.