Does the flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set off a Tornado in Texas? (Edward Lorenz, 1972)

This vertical array of 120 animated artificial butterflies, embodies in a poetic and contemplative way a colony of social animals. One, two, then three butterflies are coming alive. A ballet of butterflies flapping wings emerges from this wall of artificial insects.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

In the manner of social animals that live in colony (bees, ants, rats, fishes, birds...) this group of little organisms exhibits a group behavior which is more complex than each element.

Chaos Theory.

This dynamic system alternates individual and collective sequences, coherent and random behaviors.

Thus this colony ibehaves sometimes in unison, seeming to obey to cybernetic principles of self-regulation or auto-poiesis, but sometimes this community seems more volatile and sensitive to initial conditions, which characterizes the chaos theory, which has been simplified and illustrated by the famous butterfly effect theory of Edward Lorenz.

Endangered specie.

The audience is giving life to this wing flapping ballet though an electronic device which is watching his presence.

But it only takes one spectator gets too close, to cause the slowdown and stopping flapping wings, symbolizing the extinction of certain insects.

This omnipotence of human gives us to reflect on the impact of the action of man on nature, on the extinction of endangered species and their fragility, such as bees, butterlfies and other dodos ... Perhaps our future world will be populated with artificial substitute creatures?

Video sample

Solo show @ Lézarap'Art - Cité des Arts de la Rue within the framework of " Printemps Coréen à Marseille"