The Volta Abismal festival in 2023 brought together Mexican and British artists working with experimental music, bioacoustics, sound art, electronic art, soundscapes and techno-scientific research. Amy’s live cinema work at twilight in Casa Del Lago park, Mexico City, explored the mediation of ‘living’ biodiversity data in cinematic performance and spatial interactive sound design. By title, Luciérnaga refers to a specific, much-filmed eco-tourism site – Mexico’s Nanacamilpa firefly forest – as well as to the social history of light trails and light shows as a form of social collectivity, and theories which root the luminescent beginnings of cinema in the study of specific insect specimens and their demonstration of the more-than-human powers of networked connectivity (cf. Jussi Parikka, Insect Media). The audience participation of Amy's work was also inspired by experiments with firefly synchronisation in Thailand and by the coding of Nicky Case's work on fireflies, clock time, and their impact on their neighbours.
A sample video from the festival is here and a clip from the national broadcast on the Mexican channel Canal 11 is here.