// Bee Time Artist Residency is a place where participants explore the world of the honeybee, experience social cohesion by practicing self organising principles inspired by ‘hive consciousness’, and work with a shared vision in a fluid, seamless way. The honeybee inhabits both the dark space of the interior of it’s ‘womb’ / nest space and the sun-filled outer, geographical landscape where it forages. Working out of the understanding of the Hive as a super-organism – a being with many individual bees comprising a unified consciousness, Bee Time is a call for artistic responses on the relationship between the inner and outer landscapes that the honeybee inhabits and modern practices of beekeeping. The artists participating in this project work with a community of new beekeepers and their hives, in Southern Andalucia, and have the possibility to explore the relationships formed with the hives and with the landscape, through the bees. In April 2016, five artists came together for the first of a series of residencies where they visited the various apiaries in the area and worked collectively exploring hive consciousness. To continue exploring the threads of this investigation more residencies are planned in Spain and in the UK in 2016 / 2017.
Objectives of the residencies: - Education towards bee centred beekeeping. - Reconnection with our natural, cultural and social environment. - Exploring Applied Systems Thinking and self-organising principles inspired by hive consciousness.
1
// Background information about the project: In March 2015, Karmit EvenZur (Earth Speaks), Jorge Gallardo (Colectivo Arriero) and Kahlyn Keilty Lucas (Beefree Apiaries) initiated an educational beekeeping project called ‘Two sides of the Strait’ in which they offered a natural beekeeping workshop to the local community in Vejer de la Frontera, in Southern Andalucía, establishing 8 new beekeepers in the La Janda area. The workshop consisted of building a modified Top Bar beehive followed by a two-day apiculture theoretical seminar. Each participant then populated their hive and began putting into practice the newly acquired skills and care for the honeybee. This workshop has been followed up by monthly visits to participants’ apiaries, sharing experiences, and creating community around a bee-centred way of working with the hives. In the process, participants have met local, traditional beekeepers and exchanged knowledge with them. In March 2016 a follow up workshop took place where more participants joined the group and new hives were built. When this group and its practices are more established, they plan to build relationships with apiarists across the Strait of Gibraltar, in Morocco. The artist residency program Bee Time was created to accompany the process of community building, by using practices of contemplation and imagination as a way of exploring the possibility of creatively engaging with the hives within their landscape, and to consider the honeybee’s wisdom and teachings. // First Session In April 2016, artists Florence Boyd, Lydia Heath, Pol Parhessia, Jorge Gallardo and Karmit EvenZur spent two weeks together in the Vejer de la Frontera area (known in history as Beser de la miel).
2
Poster created by Pol Parrhessia
They practiced self-organising principles inspired by Hive consciousness, each member taking responsibility for their own contribution as well as the wellbeing of the whole group. They came up with a structure for a shared daily reflection time, which they named hex reflex where they spoke about the insights, feelings,
3
and ideas about the work that was brewing in response to the time spent with the bees. This process led to a deep level of connection with each other and this quality accompanied their work. They identified this quality as a tangible yet ephemeral 'honeyed' substance that was created between them.
Photo by Lydia Heath
They explored the relationships the local beekeepers have with their hives, and began constructing a large human size skep, in which they would be able to sit, in the darkness, paying attention to the dance between their own inner world and individual work, and the outer, collective life. The connection to their environment became very strong. The studios, being situated right next to a waterfall in the stunning natural area of Santa Lucia and the daily visits to hives allowed them to spend much time outdoors. The coming and going of people from the neighbourhood and the beekeeping community
4
meant that they were constantly 'collecting pollen' from these social interactions. Each artist began their individual process in response to these experiences and they exhibited their work in progress to the wider public at the end of the residency. They all said that it felt to them like a first step on a longer collaboration and exploration around the themes that came up, and an entryway into a sacred space inspired by nature and the bees
// Bee Time residency further dates Spring 2016 4th – 17th April 2016 Autumn 2016 17th Oct – 30th Oct 2016 Where? Residency spaces are in old water mills near Vejer de la Frontera. Accommodation in rented houses in the village. Application deadline by July 30th. Applicants will be notified by August 15th. Spring 2017 May 2017 (Dates to be confirmed) Where? Emerson College, Forest Row, East Sussex. Studio spaces and accommodation available on campus. A la Velocidad de la Luz in collaboration with Earth Speaks and ONCA gallery, center for ecology and art. How to apply? For more information to request an application form, and for any other enquiries, please email info@earth-speaks.net
5
// Selected images from Bee Time - Spring 2016
Photos by Lydia Heath
6
Photos by Pol Parrhesia
7
Photos by Pol Parrhesia
8
Photos by Lydia Heath
9