The Indefinite Guide for Sensing the In-visible

Navigating parallel dimensions series

THE INDEFINITE GUIDE FOR SENSING THE IN-VISIBLE

STRATEGY FOR SENSING THE SECRET LIFE OF MOTHS

CONTENTS

INVISIBLE DIMENSION OF MOTHS

RED LIGHT INSTALLATION FOR MOTHS

STORY OF THE LAST MOTH

MOTH SPELLS

WHAT IS CONSIDERED INVISIBLE AND TO WHOM ?

WHAT ARE OUR IN-VISIBLE CONNECTIONS AND SHARED SPACES WITH OTHER SPECIES?

MOTHS ARE NOCTURNAL THEREFORE GO UNNOTICED BY HUMANS. MOTHS BECOME IN-VISIBLE.*

* IN-VISIBLE MEANS NOT SEEN, HIDDEN, NOT SENSED, EXPERIENCED BUT KNOWN AND KNOWLEDGED FOR ITS EXISTANCE; WE KNOW THAT MOTHS ARE THERE IN THE NIGHT BUT WE MOSTLY DON’T SEE THEM BECAUSE WE ARE DIURNAL.

SHARED VISIBLE SPACE

INVISIBLE

VISIBLE

INVISIBLE

HIDDEN INVISIBLE LAYERS

Humans and other-than-human species have a different embodied experience of our shared spaces.

What we humans see,or don’t see, is different from other species. As a result, spaces become layered with different multispecies relationships and experiences that are often invisible to us. We need to learn to address and account for other species needs and the in-visible dimensions for multispecies flourishing.

MOTHS SEE ULTRAVIOLET AND POLARIZED LIGHT, WHICH IS INVISIBLE TO HUMANS.

PLANTS SEEN BY HUMANS AT NIGHT

PLANTS SEEN BY MOTHS AT NIGHT

MULTISPECIES VISION

For the project IN-VISIBLE MOTH SPELLS, I started looking at invisible multispecies connections.

The project has been developed as a response to the alarming declining numbers of ecosystems and insect populations as a result of urbanization, habitat loss, pesticide use, light pollution and climate crisis. The project aims to bring attention to and question existing social stigmas while encouraging care and sharing information about moths. The project's main objective is to make the invisible visible.

On the drawing I have marked the electromagnetic spectrums of light that humans and moths can see.

While the ultraviolet spectrum is invisible to humans, the red light spectrum is invisible to moths.

What if we used only the red light spectrum for urban lights. This way we would not affect the highly light-senstive moths together with other nocturnal critters and their populations.

INVISIBLE TO MOTHS

HUMAN VISION

MOTH VISION

100

280

315

ULTRAVIOLET

380

450

490

570 590

620

VISIBLE LIGHT

RED LIGHT SPECTRUM IS INVISIBLE TO MOTHS WHEN USING RED LIGHT, THE SPACE IS ILLUMINATED FOR THE HUMAN WHILE MOTHS ARE UNAWARE OF THIS LIGHT SOURCE.

750

INFRARED

THE DUAL MEANING OF THE ENGLISH WORD “MOTH”

MOTH POLLINATOR MOTH

CLOTHES MOTH

OTHER LANGUAGES THAT HAVE SEPARATE MEANING

PAPPILON DE NUIT

MITE

NACHTFALTER

MOTTE

MARIPOSA NOCTURNA

POLILLA

ÖÖLIBLIKAS

KOI

2500

2 CLOTHES MOTHS

ALL MOTHS

NUMBER OF DIFFERENT MOTH SPECIES IN BRITAIN

GARDEN TIGER MOTH 88% POPULATION LOSS

WHITE ERMINE MOTH 55% POPULATION LOSS

MOTH POPULATION IN BRITAIN HAS DECLINED 28% IN THE LAST 40 YEARS.

IN TOTAL, 51 SPECIES OF MOTHS HAVE BECOME EXTINCT SINGE THE 1900s.*

MOTHS ARE A VITAL PART OF ANY ECOSYSTEM. MOTHS ARE A FOOD SOURCE FOR MANY BIRDS AND MAMMALS. THEY ARE THOUGHT TO POLLINATE A WIDER ARRAY OF PLANTS THAN ANY OTHER POLLINATOR INSECT.

* ALL PERCENTAGE INFORMATION IS FROM THE BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION WEBSITE

V - MOTH 98% POPULATION LOSS

BLOOD VEIN MOTH 55% POPULATION LOSS

SUSSEX EMERALD ENDANGERED

DUSKY THORN MOTH 97% POPULATON LOSS

THE MEANING OF COLOUR MOTHS USE COLOUR, ALONG WITH SMELL AND BLOOMS SYMMETRY, TO FIND FOOD AND THE RIGHT PLANTS TO POLLINATE.

MOTHS ARE ATTRACTED TO BLUE AND WHITE FLOWERS DURING THE NIGHT.

MOTHS SEE GREEN IN THE DAYTIME. IT IS THE COLOUR OF FOLIAGE, PLANTS, FLOWER STEMS.

MOTHS SEE YELLOW IN THE DAYTIME. IT IS THE COLOUR OF MANY FLOWER BLOOM DISKS.

MOTHS DO NOT SEE RED COLOUR SPECTRUM.

MOTHS ARE ATTRACTED TO WHITE BLOOMS DURING THE NIGHT

GRID PATTERN REPRESENTS URBAN CITYSCAPES WHERE FRONT GARDENS, ROADS, WALLS, BUILDINGS, STREETS HAVE BEEN TILED IN GRIDS. HUMANS CREATE LINED RECTANGULAR TILED SPACES THAT SEEMINGLY HELP CONTROL THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. THE GRID REPLACES NATURAL HABITATS FOR MOTHS, KEEPING THE SO NOT-WANTED PLANTS AND WEEDS OUT. THE GRID REPRESENTS THE HUMAN.

RED LIGHT INSTALLATION SCULPTURE EXPERIENCING THE IN-VISIBLE LIGHT SPECTRUM HOW DOES THE RED LIGHT FEEL?

ALL SPACES ARE MULTISPECIES SPACES

We’ve dreamt about it, moth-ers all, To see the beauty, be enthralled.

And witness with our own two eyes The marvel of its monstrous size.

To gaze upon its wondrous Blue and black of underwing, and do A second take, to certain be - it really was, for all to see That julian had the holy grail: he’d trapped a Clifden Nonpareil!

BY STEVE PALIN

A SHARED LIFE

BY ANNA-MARIA AMATO

We owe chocolate to midges Would you believe They take love to the tree and Fill us all with glee Those irritating bugs Which bring less trouble than thugs Are squashed and slammed As though they were banned But you cannot ban That piece of nature which Pumping through our body No matter how rich Needs the moth to tell the flower To blossom with power To give air life It enters our body with strife

Have we forgotten We are nature We breathe in the flowers We breathe out disease We love our companions We run in the breeze Every bloom we need All the grass that we cut Will regrow till we take the seed but Then no nature around us No nature in our hearts Nothing to tell air to go there We are just empty parts Delighted as robots We stream right ahead Forgetting our souls We decided and we fled From the challenges of effort To think outside The comfort of the letters we write To tell our own story As if we don’t share The narrative with The moths tiny hair

Moth Silver winged seeker of light Dance in shadows and flirt with the night Fearful fluttering on the edges of sight Personified soul.

Moth, (read horse) Moth’s soft fluttering around the light Lured (startled and ready for flight) Moth.

Night creature.

Caught, released.

Night encroaches; summer evenings; Cat’s catch - as big as a bat.

Night scented stock dripping nectar, Rose and Geranium, privet and creeper.

Warm vinegar skies

Moth.

Elephant Hawkmoth, Hummingbird, Emperor, Luna, Cinnabar, Tiger and Atlas.

Moth in your wardrobe, Moth in your head.

Moth.

Moth.

The edge of perception Quickening Blue scented night, pregnant moon Salty sea, Mercurial Moth.

BY LISA HAWKINS

THE EMPEROR MOTH

THE FLIGHT OF THE EMPEROR MOTH

BY PHILIP BURTON IN THE FOREST OF BOWLAND, LANCASHIRE

emperor tempo steady riser forewings hindwings lower higher male detects a mile or more off mistress moth’s gentle scent four winged wafter blackthorn haunter hotshot eyespots cat-faced daunter male with daylight heath beneath him breath of heather gorse and weather now both moths in moonlight go bracken back and bracken fro

In the darkness of the night moves the invisible knight He lives and dies dances and flies To the rays and glow of the moon The moth despised and forgotten feared and mistaken opinions left unshaken The rise of street lights artificial moons in the night led the death of the moth And so the knight vanished Along with the shared darkness Oh, what a loss!

The moth’s blooms and kisses The world now misses As only after its loss The emptiness comes across As the moths were the ones Who had most of the pollination done

If only the human Had rethought the streets lumen Had learned to care For those they feared..

Now the nights are empty Unless seeds of plenty Were sowed for garden anew Filled with plants for moths And left only moonlight to fill Matters of care I beg you to dare take away your fear As you learn my dear To love, again, the forgotten moth

BY LIINA LEMBER

THE DARK MARBLED CARPET MOTH

TO A DARK MARBLED CARPET

BY ROY LEVERTON

Sorry, moth – I did not see you till you took to flight.

Your camouflage was far too good for that.

By chance I brushed the bole where you were resting, Instinct made you sense this as a threat.

True, you’d be a tasty morsel for our friendly Robin, Or those Chiffchaffs in the buddleias overhead, But I was merely strolling through the shrubbery.

I’m not an enemy! Consider me your friend instead.

Now you must find another resting place, Sheltered from the breeze and shaded from the sun, With a nice match for your cryptic camouflage, Before some predator decrees your race is run.

I watch you check out sites only to reject them: Too dark, too light, too smooth, too rough.

Each second is adding to the risk - best compromise: When the perfect spot is hard to find, take ‘near enough’.

Fine choice! You vanish before my very eyes.

Your disruptive pattern suits that background well.

Let’s hope it sees you safely through till night, Aeons of evolution perfecting every single cell.

THANK YOU

I would like to express my gratitude to Zoë Randle from the Butterfly Conservation for helping to collect and spread the word about moths spells. Also, a big thank you to all the spell authors Steve Palin, Anna-Maria Amato, Lisa Hawkins, Philip Burton and Roy Leverton.

Thank you to all IED tutors for encouraging and valuable feedback, especially my personal tutor Claudia Dutson.

A big thank you to Susan Atwill for giving voice to all the spells and making them come alive.

Liina Lember Information Experience Design Royal College of Art 2021