Termites make their lofty homes by chewing up and spitting out mouthfuls of dirt, building a network of tunnels and vents that keep the interiors of the structures at a constant temperature throughout the year. Some African species build their nests as tall as 30 feet, and the structures can last for a century after they’ve been abandoned. That’s where Tobin comes in. He and hired workers coated dead termite hills in Ghana with rubber to make molds. Once back in the States, they made bronze casts of the molds. The casts reproduce every nook and cranny of the original surfaces of the termite hills. Tobin calls the mounds a form of natural architecture–insects make the blueprints, and the resulting structures serve as shelters just as human-made buildings do. But Tobin thinks people have a lot more in common with termites than just architecture. Examining a porous piece of clay from deep inside a termite mound, the sculptor sees patterns that look like folds in a human brain. “It’s possible that the queen functions like the cerebral cortex, and the individual termites act like neurons,” says Tobin, who has enlisted a biologist to investigate the inner workings of termite hills.
The termite hills are part of Tobin’s mission to make people look at natural objects in new ways. After working with glass and clay, Tobin began making sculpture from found objects like fruits, plant materials and even animals. Six of his termite mounds will soon grace the grounds of the Museum of Natural History, along with a few of his “Roots” sculptures–life-size structures made from bronze casts of actual tree roots. Most live roots never see the light of day, but Tobin’s massive sculptures sprawl aboveground like spidery aliens. The sculptor will create even larger superstructures next year. He plans to travel back to Ghana and build kilns around abandoned termite hills. There he’ll fire the clay hills where they stand, immortalizing the termites’ creations. Insects as artists–think about that next time you feel the urge to kick over an anthill.
