︎
Katie Chin

artist based in NYC


Stigmergy - Part Two
Precarity Structures
Throw When Needed
Shift
There is Only After
Hidden Abodes
She Appears To Be a Wooden Table
Election in Which All Cows Are Black
 Troubled Games
Cash Flow
The Incentive Performances
Gender Bending, The Game
Releasing the Matriarch from Odysseus
Stigmergy - Older Works
 Collaborative Art Project



About + CV

nod@katiechin.com

Stigmergy in Sculpture


This piece references stigmergy, a social mechanism for indirect communication toward collective action, and a topic I am now revisiting in sculpture after reflecting on older bodies of wall hanging and performance-based work.

While most often associated with hive insects like bees, stigmergy is also observed in humans. Examples include bulletin boards or Reddit forums, where stigmergic communication reinforces group behaviors without individuals interacting directly. Humans frequently exhibit stigmergy digitally. This piece employs sand as a material metaphor, drawing a parallel to computer chips made of silicon—a common element found in sand. Like sand’s granular yet cohesive nature, the work reflects something fundamental about human collectivity, emphasizing the subtle but powerful forces that connect individuals within a system.

We all understood eventually…


2024
18” x 70” x 50”
Glazed and unglazed ceramic, computer keyboards, grout, sand