Maximilian PRÜFER, 2023 Ant-Dream 1 (Naturantypie) Ant-Dream 1 (Naturantypie)

Numerous footprints leave traces on the sheets of paper that form the substrate in Maximilian Prüfer’s work. These prints have been left by countless ants. They are the artist’s collaborators, as he has dedicated his artistic practice to nature and working with insects. Strictly speaking, Prüfer has developed his own technique, which he has been using in very different ways for fifteen years: “naturantypie”, as he calls it. This involves working with an extremely fine coating that makes the smallest traces visible.  In “Ant-Dream 1”, the artist set up various food sources and recorded ant trails and tracks. However, he observed that ants apparently have a collective memory and can sometimes transfer the trails from a previous experimental setup to the new one, even if there is no food source there in the new version. This means that as well as rushing to a food source on a sheet of paper, the ants will also follow a trail to the site of a purported food source that they believe they remember. Through a kind of hallucination, they reconstruct a pathway that no longer exists to the erstwhile site of a food source. This collective intention to follow a trail reveals that ants are extremely sensitive creatures. Maximilian Prüfer has repeatedly opted to immerse himself in the world of insects through observation and sensitivity, subsequently integrating this into his artistic world, shedding light for viewers on new approaches, connections, and natural processes.