KIHIKIHI

Kihikihi is an interactive installation inspired by the New Zealand chorus cicada, the sound that fills much of Aotearoa New Zealand during the summer months. Developed with artist Anne Niemetz, the installation features 27 electronic cicadas and sculptural trees that form a responsive soundscape.

Visitors are invited to pick up the insects and place them onto the trees, where they come to life through light and sound. Each cicada has its own behaviour, individually responding to motion and proximity. As more cicadas are introduced, the system becomes more complex and emergent behaviours arise, creating a dynamic and evolving soundscape that is unique to each interaction.

As visitors move throughout the installation they gradually discover their movement affects the behaviour of the system, creating a feedback loop of interaction between the insects, the trees and the participants.

The result is part installation, part instrument. No instructions are given and the audience is left to explore on their own - Inviting the audience to become part of the system itself. The nature of the emergent systems means that no two experiences are the same owing to the simple ruleset that governs the behaviour of each component.

Turning the idea into something that people could actually pick up and interact with became the core component of the project. Working alongside Anne, we developed how the objects should look, behave and feel. The electronics are intentionally exposed rather than hidden - allowing the circuitry to become part of the character of each insect.

Each insect combines sensing, sound, lighting and wireless power into a small hand-sized object that needs to survive being repeatedly picked up, handled and dropped by visitors.