Synchronizing Fireflies, Bush Crickets and Machines

Every night, shortly after sunset, thousands of tiny insects gather in the bushes of the Thai mangrove forests for a fascinating mating ritual: The suitors are male fireflies (Pteroptyx), and they start blinking in a regular rhythm, isolated at first, but slowly coordinating the timing of their flashes in synchrony with their neighbors, leading to waves of light and single synchronized flashes. In 2015, artist Robin Meier went to Thailand for an artistic exploration of this natural light show. Together with a team, he employed computer-controlled LEDs to interact with the natural rhythms and synchronizations of the fireflies, investigate how the fireflies coordinate their flashing and how their behavior was influenced by the pattern of computer-controlled LEDs. His work inspired the short film Synchronicity (Thailand).

After watching Synchronicity, Robin Meier will present a series of artworks on synchronicity and rhythm in nature, and reflect on the general relationship between scientific experiment and artistic practice. In a similar way to how writing allows us to represent and explore language by externalizing it, art can be seen as a tool for exploring behavior and phenomena that are beyond our control because the emerge autonomously through our engagement with the world around us. Thus, artistic practice can complement scientific exploration or natural phenomena.

Robin Meier
Artist and composer, Robin Meier explores the emergence of natural and artificial intelligence and the role of humans in a world of machines. Meier tries to make sense of these questions through musical compositions and installations. Robin Meier is a longtime collaborator at IRCAM / Centre Pompidou (Paris) and Fellow of the Istituto Svizzero di Roma (2018/2019).

This public lecture is part of the Lorentz Center workshop 'Synchrony and Rhythmic Interaction' which takes place 29 July - 2 August 2019.