Moth in the Loop

In a near-future world saturated with augmented reality, Moth in the Loop invites viewers into “The Blue and Yellow World,” a kaleidoscopic digital Eden where avatars and autonomous entities coexist in uneasy harmony. Lunesta, a dreaming human (or perhaps an insomniac moth, or perhaps a gynandromorph butterfly with differently coloured wings) — whose consciousness has splintered into her gossamer avatar — becomes the accidental architect of this space. Born from indiscernible black box sources, Lunesta’s avatar flits through layers of reality, exploring what it means to be human in a world increasingly detached from its organic roots.

Genesis unfolds as Lunesta’s avatar names virtual animals, traverses pixelated firmaments on the fourth day of creation, and encounters the fully autonomous entity, Æther. Together, they soar through virtual ecosystems stitched from fragmented memories and machine-generated worlds. Yet Æther begins to glitch, revealing fractures in the utopian facade. As the autonomous entity spirals out of control, the lepedopterine Lunesta is forced to confront the limits of humanity’s power over its digital “offspring”.

Human mimicry, machine agency, Moth in the Loop is a rich-layered exploration. From the golden plates of the Voyager spacecraft to insect wildlife footage, Earth’s historical and ecological flimsies form strange tableaux vivants with Bryson’s technicolour collages.

The avatars fade and Lunesta the Butterfly’s dreams fold back into themselves. One question hoverboards: When we finally break the loop, will we rediscover what it means to breathe?