Floating as Butterflies; Stinging as Bees

The insectophile in me is very excited that the first festival celebrating, to quote:

… appreciation of “insects in art and the art of being an insect”, the Pestival aims to create positive PR for this 400-million-year-old, highly evolved taxon that has had thousands of years of bad press.

is happening soon in London. With a humourous title of Pestival the programme includes:

• Dr. Mark Benecke: Adventures in Forensic Entomology — Benecke will enlighten us with his knowledge and understanding of maggot behaviour, illustrating his talk with fresh and juicy demonstrations.
• Dr. Claire Preston: The Art and Allure of the Bee — Claire Preston follows the natural and cultural history of our relationship with the bee and the development of these legends, from ancient political descriptions of the bee to Renaissance debates about monarchy, and the accompanying scientific discoveries about insects, to the modern conversion of the virtuous, civil bee into the dangerous swarm of the Hollywood horror flick.
• Prof. David Rothenberg: Why Do Insects Sing? — Crickets, cicadas, katydids, cecropia moths. They’re the original polyrhythmacists, jammers in the dark, trance tuners of the dark soundwaves of night. Music is at the center of their lives, as they sing to find each other, to celebrate the warming of the seasons, their sonic place in the ecology. Science knows the reasons, but not the grooves. Why do insects synchronize across species lines? Why do they produce sounds we can enjoy, which they are sometimes unable to hear themselves?
• Films including Ladislaw Starewicz’s The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912) and Phase IV, a mesmerising, thoughtful 1974 eco-science fiction film, directed by Saul Bass.
• Insect inspired music.

The overlords are fast approaching. All hail our insect masters…

Posted by Ian at March 16, 2006 06:19 PM | TrackBack §