Spidergoat and the Insect Electro is an installation created in collaboration with artist Kathy Holowko for the National Wool Museum and also appeared at White Night Ballarat in 2019.

Light filled cocoons and eerie electronic sounds leads you into the installation where you unravel a strange and thought provoking story about insect silk … told almost entirely with wool.

As the strongest known natural fibre on the planet and many times stronger than steel, spider silk elasticity and strength has been coveted by human industry and the sciences for centuries. The quest to obtain or replicate the qualities of spider silk reveal unusual methods of research in science – from across the ages and into the contemporary transgenic era. This installation references the attempts to splice goat genes with those of spiders in order to produce spider silk milk which can then be harvested.

Installation concept and design – Kathy Howloko

Custom lighting design and animation – Pierre Proske

Sound design – Pierre Proske