Charles Saatchi is to open his new gallery with miniature skeletons and dead insects.

Tessa Farmer’s Swarm (second image) features fake tiny human skeletons, complete with wings, perched on the back of a dead dragonfly. Farmer uses tree roots to make the skeletons of “evil fairies”, which each have three fingers and four toes.

Via Londonist BBC News. PDF essay on Farmer. Image 1 and 2.

Another forthcoming insect art show in London:
We are THEM!, by Mark Hatter, zooms in on the microcosm of the Black Garden Ant world: observing, training and eventually manipulating its inhabitants for his own purposes.

Worker watching TV and Worker pole-dancing.

Mark has spent the last two years closely studying the insects and has developed a series of training tools, including specialist camera armature, “stage sets” to provide the ants with challenges and stimuli, modifying their behavior and teaching new skills, and systems of communication such as chemical stimuli and ant-signage. As well as being a spectacle in the manner of a Victorian Flea Circus, the project is a commentary on current research in the field of nano-technology and an homage to monster movies such as as THEM! (1954) and Phase IV (1974).

To date, We are THEM! includes a manifesto video presentation and show reel of the ants progress. Beyond the training phase, ants will be re-introduced into their natural environment, where the consequences of their modified behaviour will be documented.

Ultimately, We are THEM! will culminate in the realisation of a plan for World Domination. Partners and funding are being sought for this final phase.

Streaming movie of ant training at the bottom of this page.
We are THEM! has been short-listed for “Best Video or Electronic work” and “Best Student Work”, at the inaugural show of Vision 05: Art by Architects.

The work will be shown at the Werst Gallery in early 2006. We are THEM! will also be available for viewing online (currently under construction).