In Sarayaku, Kichwa nation of the Amazon, the actions of turning with rhythm afford weaving practices that sustain multispecies relations and ecological livelihoods. Turns, rhythms, and weaving constitute vital forms of creation ascribed to nonhuman kin and planetary agencies. Tiam (radical turns), taki (rhythm), and awana (weaving) are care-taking practices for worlding with earth beings. Guided by these decolonial performances and based on an ontology of territorial relations that sees the rainforest as a superorganism, what the people call Kawsak Sacha (living forest), I amplify the fluid migrations and corporeal forms of army ants.

Army ants have a different identity in Sarayaku. They are known as tamya añanku, the rain ants. They are territorial weavers who flush away unwanted animal dwellers from huts, and transform into political messengers of territorial conflicts in peoples’ dreams. Using their bodies as weaving materials they turn themselves into shelters and bridges over water and terrain irregularities. In times of unprecedented climate change, this rain-ant interrelation shows the values of including multispecies indigenous knowledges in scientific and artistic methods to create a better planetary awareness.

By means of tactical mediations using the Kichwa concepts of tiam, taki, and awana, I repurpose electronic sensors, machine algorithms, and olfaction to turn colonially-biased scientific descriptions of army ants around and upside down: a multi-sensory installation composed of photos, videos, sounds, water vibrations, conductive threads, and synthetic odours. The distinct scent of rain ants, skatole, and the smell of wet earth, geosmin, complement the olfactory experience. Tactile interaction with a Sarayaku basket modifies audiovisual projections, while conductive threads, driven by data of ants crossing laser barriers, contact water in earthenwares to play sounds. Media combines with handcrafted social vessels of Sarayaku culture to reveal this unique rain-ant interrelation.