Insects & Us
Kris Hofmann’s Insects & Us invites us to explore an animated environment to engage with the interwoven stories of its inhabitants.
Insects serve as food for other animals, pollinate our crops, act as natural pest control agents and play a crucial part in turning dead organic matter into fertile soil.
The numbers and diversity of insects have been in sharp decline over the last few decades. If the trend continues it will dramatically affect human welfare.
Viewers are invited to watch crickets, dragonflies, butterflies, beetles, and ants make their simple, yet vital contributions to a functioning ecosystem – whilst listening to four scientists talk about why they matter and what can be done to help.
To find out more and hear longer interviews with the scientists visit insectsandus.com
The exhibition is taking place in our Screen Room and will be accessible at these times:
Thu 7 Jul: 12pm – 8pm
Fri 8 Jul: 12pm – 8pm
Sat 9 Jul: 12pm – 4pm (family workshop as part of Cultural Quarter Earlies)
Sat 9 Jul: 4pm – 7pm
Sun 10 Jul: 12pm – 5pm
Kris has been working with animation since earning an MA in Communication Art and Design from the Royal College of Art in London in 2010. She moved to Vienna in 2018 and in now focused on the design of immersive Augmented Reality stories and experiences.
Past highlights include a V&A illustration award (2010), an extensive festival tour for her first animated short Breakfast (2011) and commissions for The New York Times, Somerset House, The Guardian Labs, Wildlife Aid, Madrid Fashion Week, Austrianfashion.net, the EU Energy Efficiency Commission and the NHS Wales.
Her first immersive experience, the site-specific Augmented Reality story ‘The Bookworms’ (directed and produced for the Austrian National Library in Vienna) was nominated for the Austrian ‘Staatspreis für Digitalisierung’ in 2020.
To find out more about Kris’s practice visit krishofmann.co.uk
Featured Scientists:
Dr. Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, PhD (University of Life Sciences, Norway)
Dr. Jessica Ware, PhD (American Museum of Natural History, US)
Dr. Andreas Segerer (Zoologische Sammlung München, DE)
Peter Smithers (Royal Entomological Society, UK)
Insects & Us was directed and designed by Kris Hofmann and produced by Animate Projects.
All 3D content was created and animated by R5 Region Five Media GmbH.
Code by WAMMS, sound and music by Marian Mentrup.
The project was supported by the AWS Austrian Wirtschaftsservice and the FFF FilmFernsehFonds Bayern.
