Vibrations [Firebug - city]

Bea Targosz

The project has started from observations of the urban environment as a ground of interplays between technology, architecture and nature, with an attempt to follow and understand animals’ possible perspectives on the city. Among many species, one of the common city dwellers, widely exploring its potentials, are insects.They are active users of urban facilities, first occupants of new buildings, brave co-creators of the environment and of the soundscape. They are also receivers of city sounds, vibes and radiations.

Insects’ activities and communication were examined as one of the multiple layers of signals and vibes of the urban environment. Bringing forth insects’ presence, I attempt to extend the perspective on the city, including various understandings of scale, time, termination of happenings and question about our relations to non-humans and to our environments.

The fieldwork focused on the Pyrrhocoris apterus. Recognizable for its wing colour patterns and multiple big colonies, Firebug is a common inhabitant of European cities. At the same time, it is being researched in the context of insects’ personalities and vibrational communication. Records include behaviour and interactions between up to 3 bugs for up to 2 hours at once. In parallel, vibrations appearing in the closest surrounding of the firebugs’ colony - rhythms and cycles of the city found within the soil and infrastructures - have been captured. The focus of the recordings was structure-borne sound.

In the installation both, vibrations of the city and of insects are audible. Long sequences of insects’ activities are introduced to reflect the timbre and timing of happenings. The research, fieldwork and recorded material were consulted with Dr. Roland Mühlethaler - entomologist specialized in insect’s vibrational communication. During fieldwork, contact microphones created by dr.Roland Mühlethaler for the purposes of capturing insects’ vibrations, as well as geophone have been used.

Bio

Bea Targosz studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she completed graduate studies in art and media. Her installations have been presented at Vorspiel / transmediale & CTM, the CENSE Symposium for Sonic Ecologies, nextmuseum.io and at klingt gut! International Conference on Sonic Arts and Spatial Audio at the HAW Hamburg. Among others, she received an Elsa Neumann scholarship from the state of Berlin and a DAAD scholarship. In 2023 she participated in the Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt.

• beatargosz.com/projekt/vibrations-firebug-city