@lukaskaraba_
luk.karaba@gmail.com
The work presents the notes of a fictional scientific team investigating the mystery of the synchronous flashing of firefly swarms – a secret communication channel of this species. This behavior remains unresolved: despite new imaging technologies (such as 3D scanning of swarms in space), scientific research has not been able to convincingly explain its evolutionary significance. Why, then, do fireflies synchronize?
Perhaps, however, we should ask differently: why are we unable to decipher the reason why fireflies synchronize? The critical flicker fusion threshold (CFF) differs across animal species depending on body size, and therefore on the perception of time. The short flashes of fireflies’ light organs may resemble binary computational logic to the human eye, yet at the same time they may carry complex information that exceeds our perceptual capacities. *Contemporary research into the different perceptions of time and light among humans and other organisms only emphasizes the mysteries that remain hidden from humankind.*¹
The project is inspired by the fictional discipline of terolinguistics (first mentioned by Ursula Le Guin in 1974), which explores and translates communicative traces of nonhuman beings. The mind map draws on the aesthetics of 3D digital environments, intertwining elements of speculative fabulation with references to scientific research, and seeks to contribute to the *search for forms of sensitivity toward nonhuman beings and otherness.*²
*At present, it can no longer be excluded that (some) animals or plants possess means of communication, symbolic thinking, or more complex expressive abilities. (…) It is therefore entirely possible that in the not-too-distant future the balance between speculative fabulation and scientific knowledge will radically shift. A transformation in knowledge, consciousness, and the orientation of technology will occur, enabling us to cultivate a utopian sensibility of planetary dimensions and to reconfigure our communities.*³
The work was created in connection with a short 3D animated film of the same title Branching Light and Flashes of Dawn (2024), as a part of the exhibition Swarm Theory at the Ján Koniarek Gallery in Trnava (2025).
1 Denis Kozerawski, curatorial text
for OskarČepan Award 2024
2 Vinciane Despret, Autobiography
of an Octopus, Utopia Libri, 2024
3 Vinciane Despret, Autobiography
of an Octopus, Utopia Libri, 2024
Author: Paula Malinowska
Collaboration: Lukáš Karaba
Exhibition Curator: Lýdia Pribišová
Photo credit: Paula Malinowska
Photo credit: Andrej Balco (opening of exhibition: Theory of Swarm, Ján Koniarej Gallery, Trnava, Slovakia)