Transformations

Simon Schmalhorst (2020)

Grey silverfish are insects that are unintentionally distributed worldwide by humans. Because they are able to feed on paper and thereby destroy man-made things, they are considered pests and are fought as such.
Simon examined, in collaboration with the biologist Bill Landsberger and the Rathgen-Research laboratory in Berlin, the eating behavior of grey silverfish and their preferences for certain colors or types of paper. For this he designed graphics that make the feeding marks of the animals and possible preferences easily visible. He influenced their behavior through specific coloring of prints, but at the same time they determined the design through their behavior. A mutual process developed, a dialogue through graphic means, between the animals and a human.
Simon Schmalhorst