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Thursday, 23 June 2016

Cement and aluminum casts of ant colonies make for striking artwork

Watch molten aluminum get poured down an anthill to make a cast of the colony, running time: 2:46.

Thousands of ants were harmed in the making of this video, fused into the resulting sculpture like Han Solo frozen in carbonite. Looking for a gift for a nerd? eBay lists just over a dozen aluminum ant colony casts, ranging in appearance from snowflakes to Christmas trees to the Crystalline Entity, and ranging in price from USD 20 to this piece going for USD 3,000.

Think that’s impressive? Watch as a team excavates a giant ant nest, pouring 10 tons of cement into the eight meter deep, 50 square meter nest, whose resulting cast resembles a miniature alien colony, (running time: 3:15)

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