Tribes is a study of human behaviour on a mass scale. Thousands of tiny people move in sync, forming connections, creating collective patterns on the landscape, and seemingly sharing common goals.

The film allows a duality of perspective. Pictured from above, the human figures in these ever-changing mass simulations are living artworks, barely distinguishable from one another. Together they create a fluid movement of colour, with the crowd’s behaviour revealing patterns that are only visible from a distance. Yet viewed close up, the individuals that make up the crowd are revealed, each following a unique trajectory in their shared environment.

Tribes continues our longstanding lines of enquiry into choreography and rules of human behaviour. Informed by the complexities of crowd dynamics, the project explores autonomy, self-organisation and group interrelationships. It questions the impact a crowd can have on an individual within it, creating an impression of the universality of human behaviour.

Tribes was originally commissioned by the Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul.