Kristi Malakoff: Swarm Theory

Is the whole more than the sum of its parts? That’s the basic question behind swarm theory, or swarm intelligence, which posits that while an individual may have simple or limited perspective, gathered together that information adds up to a formidable collective intelligence. Bees and ants know this, and NASA and the U.S. military are taking note. But, perhaps most importantly, it is a notion worth re-considering in a world where the potential power of a human mass is often neutralized by the isolated social reality of individualists and specialists.

Artist Kristi Malakoff’s Resting Swarm, currently on view in her survey exhibition “Bounty” at the Art Gallery of Peterborough, makes a good illustration of these complex behavioural patterns. For the installation, Malakoff has installed a swarm of meticulously cut-out photos of more than 20,000 life-size honeybees in a corner of the gallery. Removed from a natural context, the installation prompts thoughts of how the bees found their way in and under what conditions. At the same time, the work sets up an uneasy balance between the curious fascination that draws viewers closer to what appears to be a forbidding mass and the potential danger that makes them hesitate. In this the work becomes a test of behaviours that illustrates the cooperative, swarming nature of honeybees and the protective (social and physical) boundaries innate in the viewer.

Other works in the exhibition play on the contrary themes of abundant beauty and tragedy in nature. Of particular note is Skull, a massive wall work constructed from 12,000 digital photos of flowers that refers to the celebratory nature of death in the ritual Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. Also, Malakoff’s Grave Cross Series re-presents the irony of life and death in the intricately wrought floral patterns of 17th- and 18th-century German grave markers. (250 Crescent St, Peterborough ON)