Swarm

The Swarm publication is modeled on a field guide, particularly in its binding, rounded edges, and journal-like format. Within its 96 pages, full-color reproductions of the artworks featured in Swarm alternate with beautifully rendered information graphics. The cover of the publication features the graphic signature for Swarm made of letters that coalesce from minute circles. The visual and tactile qualities of the publication situate swarming as something both visceral and analytical, futuristic but also ancient and primal. The catalog includes an introduction by Marion Boulton Stroud, Founder and Artistic Director of the FWM, as well as an essay by guest curators Abbott Miller and Ellen Lupton, and contributions by William Smith. Woven into the gallery of artists’ images are scientific diagrams and visualizations of swarms occurring in the human and animal worlds–from army ants and honey bees to traffic and suburban sprawl.