August 08, 2007 | Filed under: Material Features
Lit From Within
As a kid, you probably thought of getting yourself one of those well-defined ant colonies in one of those transparent boxes.
Socially organized insects have always been fascinating; they've stirred up mystery and amusement, strangely reminding us of ourselves, speaking to each other and hoarding food, following zigzagged footpaths in a vast network of roads and silent hierarchies.
Clayton Tugonon's lamps take you back to your childhood, to a state of curiosity and wonder. They give you a sense of the nooks and crannies you haven't seen, of places you haven't discovered. Some rough and squat and some nearly two meters tall, these lamps made from termite mounds send out a surreal light from their irregular hollows. They rise above the ground, remnants of a magnificent ecosystem with a complex social structure. A society that relies on "swarm intelligence"�that instinctive force that allows the masses to move...(read more)
