"malaria mosquito
migration" - A light and sound installation by Irene Anton
The mosquito has been on the move,
especially in recent years, because its search for a new home is by no means
limited to the human species. Due to the constantly growing "migration of
peoples" in global air traffic and the resulting global warming, changes
are slowly but surely taking place in the settlement of new flora and fauna in
our regions, whether through gradual advance or involuntary travel in planes. A
current example, and one that is being talked about everywhere at the moment,
is the tiger mosquito, because not only malaria is a problem, but also dengue
fever, which has quite a deadly potential and with which the island of Madeira,
located in the Atlantic and belonging to Portugal, has been struggling for some
time.
A scenario that is not at all
far-fetched in this respect, but equally disturbing, would be the arrival of
the malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito in regional, especially water-rich
regions.
The return of malaria does not only
affect poor countries; the pathogens are on the advance in the temperate
climate zones and thus also in the industrialised countries. The main cause is
global warming, which also favours the spread of other life-threatening
diseases such as dengue fever, typhoid, meningitis, cholera or salmonella
infestations.
"Just half a degree of increase
in temperature," warns Professor Klaus Fleischer, Head of the Department
of Tropical Medicine at the Mission Hospital in Würzburg, "can
significantly accelerate the spread of malaria."
Due to the constantly increasing travel
and international trade, dangerous tropical diseases are being introduced again
and again. At the moment, such imported individual cases hardly pose a danger
of epidemics in our country. Patients in the rich industrialised countries
usually receive medical treatment in time; moreover, carriers of tropical
diseases such as the Anopheles mosquito cannot overwinter in our temperatures.
(from: http://www.greenpeace-magazin.de/index.php?id=4463)
Even if it would not immediately
mean a death sentence - as described in the above quote - it would still be
nightmarish to imagine that malaria could spread rapidly as the temperature
continues to rise and could be a potential danger, at least in the warm months.
At the very least, it would mean quite a change in lifestyle. There is still no
vaccination against malaria, but only prophylaxis in the form of installing
mosquito nets, rubbing the endangered skin areas and/or malaria tablets, which,
if taken over a longer period of time, can cause other health problems.
In the darkened room, illuminated
with black light or similar, several mosquito nets are installed and moved by
means of fan(s). At the same time, mosquito sounds can be heard from a hidden
box in the form of a loop. Most of the time, the little beasts are difficult to
locate at night, and appear to us almost as a kind of phantom. This difficult
tangibility of potential danger is conveyed by the installation, which seems
ephemeral and is constantly in motion.
As sensual as mosquito nets may seem
in the breeze, the viewer can still be made uncomfortable by the parallel sound
of mosquitoes.
Since our technical achievements and
globalisation also mean that we are "making a pact with the devil"
and will have to bear the consequences in the form of climate change, the
sentence "Blut ist ein ganz besonderer Saft” (Blood is a very special
juice) from Goethe's Faust is placed on the wall in red fluorescent letters,
especially since it perfectly connects to the mosquito.
