BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH INTO THE SPINNING BEHAVIOR AND SPATIAL PERCEPTION OF THE SILKWORM

In 2015, Neri Oxman and the Mediated Matter Group at MIT Media Lab published their work Silk Pavilion. With this project, they proposed a new way of looking at digital fabrication through the lens of biomimicry, abandoning the additive method of DIY 3D printers, and directly printing an outward, encompassing structure in 3-dimensional space. This model was based on the silkworm’s spinning behavior, where the team conducted numerous spatial experiments and tests on spinning silkworms in attempt to understand their method and how spatial restraints and variations can affect the final spun outcome. This provided me with a new way of looking at the spinning behavior. I adjusted my approach from designing with the

silkworm to designing for the silkworm. Different from Silk Pavilion in the final goal, I was interested in presenting the spatial perspective of the worm through the machine design, to try and probe into inner workings of the silkworm’s worldview. This became the new design premise for Machine II: Spatial Spinning.

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I started conducting my own spatial spinning experiments with silkworms, both looking at how the insects navigate through space individually and collectively. For the collective experiments, I cultivated silkworms that produced multi-colored silk using both the Singaporean method of

feeding colored feed to the worms, and the Japanese approach of

genetically engineered silkworms. Through color tracking methods, I was able to observe the negotiations of two worms spinning in a common space, and how they built upon each other. It was surprising to find that there was very little mistake, back and forth or overlap in collaborative silk spinning, where the spatial territory of worms were clearly marked through the differentiation of silk color, as if it were following a predetermined blueprint.

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Further research into areas such as sensory ecology and animal

architecture provided a clearer explanation for what I was observing. In the case of insects that build, as the complexity level of their brain is limited, they instead utilize basic aspects of their body morphology, such as size, shape, and function, almost like a measuring stick to help predict and understand their surrounding. Over thousands of years of evolution, this relationship between form and function is fine-tuned to such a degree, that

the behavioral process that emerges can stand to be simple and

mechanical, while ensuring complex, guaranteed results.

The goal I set for Machine II was to disrupt this equilibrium of insect perception, to introduce confusion, and to track that blindspot of the organisms through spun silk structures. The design of the vertical spinning mechanism starts from the basic form and size of the glass spinning

chamber, each slightly beyond the reach of a fully developed healthy pupa.

The curvature surface of the glass prevents the worm from identify corners and angles, which it utilizes to set up a 3-dimensional framework for its silk construction. The vertical spinning motion of the chamber is based on the silkworm’s sense of gravitational pull, where the slow spinning provides a constant change of gravitational direction, confusing the insect’s spatial orientation. The results, though not always guaranteed, when successful, illustrate the negative space in worm perception, and displays the insect’s process of confusion and adjustment.