Tracking Ants
Continuing our recent, if somewhat unexpected, ant theme, here is a project that maps the paths of walking ants.
![](//photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7184/598/400/cain2412.0.jpg)
The project, by Sean Dockray, consists of a short video loop that "documents a pheromonal portrait made by Argentine ants. While the ants in the video are real (they were shot in a single 45 minute long take) the trails are created in a piece of custom software, which tracks each ant frame-by-frame."
![](//photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7184/598/400/ameising1-beginning.jpg)
![](//photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7184/598/400/ameising1-middle.jpg)
![](//photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7184/598/400/ameising1-end.jpg)
"The more that ants walk on a particular path, the darker that paths gets. Over time, the paths either disappear or are reinforced by more walking. In this way, the video is a kind of mutable, spatialized collective memory."
(See also Wormholes in Wood, and the almost unbelievable images of subterranean ant architecture at Nest-casting; and thanks to Sean Dockray for supplying the filmstills!).
from bldgblog
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7184/598/400/cain2412.0.jpg)
The project, by Sean Dockray, consists of a short video loop that "documents a pheromonal portrait made by Argentine ants. While the ants in the video are real (they were shot in a single 45 minute long take) the trails are created in a piece of custom software, which tracks each ant frame-by-frame."
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7184/598/400/ameising1-beginning.jpg)
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7184/598/400/ameising1-middle.jpg)
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7184/598/400/ameising1-end.jpg)
"The more that ants walk on a particular path, the darker that paths gets. Over time, the paths either disappear or are reinforced by more walking. In this way, the video is a kind of mutable, spatialized collective memory."
(See also Wormholes in Wood, and the almost unbelievable images of subterranean ant architecture at Nest-casting; and thanks to Sean Dockray for supplying the filmstills!).
from bldgblog