Building ‘the world’s most beautiful ant farm’

Ant Life prompts human pondering in Denver

BY CHRISTY STEADMAN CSTEADMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

While Jacob Lemanski was circling the globe on his bicycle, the only thing he missed was his ant farm. It was one of the few possessions he’d kept before setting out on his adventure. He built it himself, using scrap sheets of plastic and he set a dim light behind it to illuminate the ant tunnels.

Lemanski’s cycling adventure entailed circling the world twice — a feat that took him 999 days, almost three years. Nearly all of his time was solitary, aside from the friendly waves and saying a casual hello to the thousands of people along his route, which consisted of traversing six continents.

During the long stretches of pedaling, Lemanski had a lot of time to re ect. He often thought about his ant farm. So, when he returned home, Lemanski, who has a background in mechanical and aerospace engineering, set out to build the “world’s most beautiful ant farm.”

Lemanski created a living habi- tat with a colorful backdrop of nebulae and stars that reacts to the color-changing lights built within the frame.

Once built, Lemanski spent many hours looking at it — observing the ants as they tunneled and watching the roots of various plants as they grew in the soil.

Watching the ant farm became meditation for him.

“Every time I looked, it was different, and I was mesmerized,” Lemanski said. “Watching it become something is the fun of it.”

Lemanski then built a second ant farm, then a third. Eventually, it became a collection of eight. Lemanski got a patent on them, and in June last year, opened a space to publicly display them at 2150 Market St. in downtown Denver.

Today, he has 11 illuminated ant farms for everyone to enjoy. Filling a couple of the walls inside the larger Ant Life venue, Lemanski calls the display “the Ant Space.” Each of these framed ant farms is unique, and will be di erent with every visit. It’s living wall art, Lemanski said.

“It only exists in the present because it’s constantly changing,”

Additional original artwork displayed inside Ant Life is what Lemanski calls Space Screens. ese are close-up images – some are photographs of plants and other objects that Lemanski took on his cycling adventure – on dyed velvet that are hung from a light bar to create a dynamic, psychedelic wall hanging. He o ers Ant Life guests a pair of 3D glasses to enhance the viewing experience.

“Whenever I am at Ant Life, I feel a sense of peace staring into the art as the lights pulsate colors and shift my perception of what I see,” said Kelsey Armeni, who visits Ant Life on a regular basis. “I know that in the midst of an event, I can take a break from socializing to go and stare and connect back to my breath and the simplicity of ants digging through the cosmos.”

Lemanski originally opened Ant Life as an art gallery — everything in it is available for purchase — but the space soon found its calling as an events venue.

Since its opening, Lemanski has hosted a variety of corporate and private events there — from birthdays and weddings to gaming and movie nights. e Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies even hosted one of its events at Ant Life when the association was in Denver in June for its Psychedelic Science conference. And about once a month, Ant Life hosts the popup market, Magic Makers Market.

“ is venue has been the biggest blessing to the event promoters here in Denver,” said Anthony Sabia, founder of Shroomski Magazine, who hosts events at Ant Life. “It’s designed with the intention to give you something fascinating to look at. e decorating has already been done, and any guest that comes in there is practically left speechless.”

Lemanski enjoys the variety of events that take place at Ant Life. And he happily schedules free, private tours of the space for anyone who wants to see it. He’ll carry on friendly conversations about the art and ask visitors what they see in it.

And “everyone sees something di erent,” Lemanski said.