Ant Farm

I presented the ant farm today in CFC, it went over quite well, I'm pretty happy with it.

The ants are doing great so far, and for only being in the sand for 3 days, they've started to tunnel a bit even. I only seem to have lost one or two ants so far (that's lost as in they've died, not gotten out), I assume they died when Kara and I put them in.

The piece was presented on a pedestal with my placard on the front explaining the piece. Shiva seemed to like it, and people kept coming back over to see it throughout the course of the class. Which I'm taking as a huge compliment. I think this may be my first cfc project that everyone likes, professor, class and me! Normally, I like it and the prof likes it but the class doesn't, or (more common) I like it kinda, but am unhappy overall, and no one else likes it either, so everyone liking a cfc piece of mine is a nice change.

The placard read,

Ant Farm

I aim to explore the harnessing of the environment by humans for our own benefit, be it frivolous, harmless uses like an ant farm or more serious uses, both in implementation and effects, such as disposal of pollutants. We dramatically change our environment and are thus limited by it, as we use our resources inefficiently we change the physical properties of what makes our environment, our environment. I aim to show this through ants constricted in an ant farm. Much the same as humans, the ants are constrained by their environment and they change their environment as they move the dirt but they are ultimately constrained by it and they changes they make. There is only so much space to move dirt in the ant farm, just as we only have so many resources.

Similarly, if we pollute a freshwater lake and abuse its ecosystem, we lose the lake as a source of drinking water and food. The ants only have a limited food supply; they must efficiently use what food is supplied to them to keep their colony alive. When their food supply runs out, they die. When we ruin our environment, we face the same pressures and consequences.

Pete Hall







The actual ant farm itself is made out of laser cut 1/4" clear cast arylic and an acid that melts arcylic and then lets it harden again to create a seemless bond where two pieces of acrylic meet whose name I can't remember.
The ants are harvester ants (who can apparently bite!) and have a limited food supply of seeds and other foliage and are living in simple sand substrate. I got them from antsalive.com.

Thanks for reading!