Introducing Zombie Ant Fungus: The Chemistry of Control
Pestival creator Bridget Nicholls joins Catalyst Club to share the thinking behind a bold new Pestival commission: Zombie Ant Fungus: The Chemistry of Control.
Blending science, performance, and cultural enquiry, Zombie Ant Fungus explores the real biology of Ophiocordyceps – a parasitic fungus that can hijack the nervous system of ants, altering behaviour for its own survival.
But the project goes further.
What begins as entomology becomes something more unsettling:
- If control can be chemical, where does agency live?
- If behaviour can be shaped externally, what does “self” mean?
- And if fungi can choreograph ants… what might be shaping us?
At Catalyst Club, Bridget shares the origins, ideas, and provocations behind this new Pestival work, offering a rare glimpse into a project that sits at the intersection of neuroscience, mycology, sound, and performance.
Expect storytelling, science, and a creeping sense that the boundaries between organism and environment are more porous than we like to believe.
About the project
Zombie Ant Fungus: The Chemistry of Control is a newly commissioned Pestival performance combining immersive theatre, experimental music, and scientific research. Developed with a collective of artists, musicians and scientists, the work examines how parasitic fungi manipulate behaviour, and what that reveals about control, communication and consciousness.
At Catalyst Club, Bridget shares the origins, ideas, and provocations behind the new Pestival work
Bridget Nicholls | Producer / Creator