Now available via Bom Dia Books, the publication “Termite Economies” assembles the three phases of a major series of artworks produced between 2018 – 2020 by the Australian artist Nicholas Mangan.

In the first exhibition of “Termite Economies” (Phase 1), Mangan parted from the discovery of the hypothesis that termites could one day be mobilized to guide humans to gold and copper deposits. In Phase 2 he researched the sophisticated chemical communication systems of termites. Beginning 2020, Phase 3 was on view at Labor, in which Mangan explored how termite systems can inform new social economies. Within each phase, Mangan developed specific methods to explore these phenomena formally, spatially, and through moving images.

Termite Economies grappled with the potentiality of collective social behavior and complexities of systematic exploitation of non-human intelligence.

The book includes process and research photographs, diagrams, installation and detailed imagery, a conversation between Mangan and cultural theorist Ana Teixeira Pinto, in addition to texts by Guy Thereaulaz and Mariana Silva.