Springtails is an online artwork produced in 2002. Exhibited in the Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2002) and Dots & Lines, BBC Online Exhibition (2005).

Springtails is a colony of 'electronic insects' that react when touched by a user's cursor. As they catapult around their environment, the insects strike chimes, and in effect, compose an incidental sound piece.

These insects are arranged in a visual environment comprised of a series of horizontal levels, which curiously resemble the 'lines' of a conventional score. The 'Springtails' themselves are scarcely more substantial than 'dots', thus creating a compelling visual metaphor with a traditional music score. Springtails , however, is far from a traditional music system. It employs a method of computation, which scientists refer to as 'artificial life'. In artificial life programmes scientists use computers to model naturally occurring phenomena. bordedomresearch were inspired to use artificial life techniques to create Springtails after observing real insects. After watering a potplant, the two artists became transfixed by the behaviour of tiny creatures called springtails, which infested the pot. They observed chance collisions between members of the colony, which triggered surges of motion. Gently touching one insect would cause it to 'ping' to another location. Occasionally this would be a location already occupied by another springtail, on which event they would both 'ping'. bordedomresearch have recreated this naturally occurring process within the digital space of the computer.

Links:

Springtails online project

BBC Online Dots & Lines Exhibition exhibiting Springtails, 2005