Japanese conceptual artist Yukinori Yanagi has picked an unlikely collaborator to be featured in his series of artworks—an insect that most of us identify as a common house pest—ants.
Called the ‘World Flag Ant Farm’, Yanagi constructs replica country flags by pouring colored sand into a series of connected plexiglass boxes.
Once the flag designs are formed, he releases live ants into the boxes—allowing them to tunnel and travel through his artworks.
As the ants travel and mix the sand from different boxes, the artworks become a living, breathing piece that continuously evolves over time.
According to Yanagi, his artworks poke fun at the notion of national identity—reflecting the issues of cross-cultural development that happening around the world.
“My works,” Yanagi explains “are borders I have had to cross or barriers I have confronted in trying to define myself as Japanese.”
Yanagi has been ‘collaborating’ with ants over the past 20 years and they have been featured his other works.
[via Yukinori Yanagi, images via Spoon-Tamago]