DIGITAL ARTISAN

THE AUTOMATIC MANTIS

 

We focused on the small, paying homage to nature, and created an automaton inspired by an insect, reviving the ancient craft of puppetry. We developed a new tool for puppet animation based on open-source software programming: PURR DATA + ARDUINO.
Our protagonist is the insect queen, feared by her peers, demonized by the ignorant, mummified and worshipped by the Egyptians, invoked by African Bushmen in trance rituals, imitated by great samurai warriors, inspiration for long investigations into aliens and studied by great science fiction artists; The Praying Mantis.

 

Created and Directed by: Heidi Valda / Gemma Reverter

Insect painting: Sara Fort

Music: Pablo Gaviria