Title: Fish Predictions
Artist: Vita Mei Hewitt
Media: Fish pond and filter, 10 goldfish, mixed media, framed posters
Dimensions: Variable
Date: 2009

This project is based on the following question:

How would the systems of scientific inquiry react if they were forced to confront and analyze something that they have previously dismissed as non-existent?

The project attempts to answer this question by setting up a system of data collection modeled after marine biology observation systems used to study the behavior of sea animals. It consists of a maze of numbered squares that a series of goldfish are forced to problem-solve their way through in order to explore the tank and receive their food. Since goldfish can make decisions by canceling out a series of variables, they are able to learn how to navigate the tank, establish social hierarchies, and get fed.

The numbered sections of the maze correspond to a series of wall charts based on diagrams used in Chinese mythology to predict a person's chances of being re-incarnated as a given animal. When a fish stops in one of the squares, the number of the square can be indexed to the wall chart and the likely reincarnation possibility for that fish at that moment can be found.