TO bee goes to New York

On September 24th TO bee opens at boxoFFICE Gallery in New York. There are some works from the exhibition in Melbourne but also some new work done from the time I spent in New York photographing and filming beekeepers on the roof tops of Manhattan. Also an event with Ron Breland the maker of the dodecahedron hive.

Bees are clever

Great new article on how bees are protecting themselves in their hives from pesticides. They know when pollen is contaminated with pesticides ad seal off their hive cells. Smarter than us.
see article
http://www.naturalnews.com/032057_honey_bees_pollen.html

The Alliance for Wild Ethics

I am reading a wonderful new book called 'Becoming Animal' by David Abram who is one of the founding members of an organisation called The Alliance for Wild Ethics. http://www.wildethics.org/home.html
I am very excited about this organisation as they have wonderful people involved and I find my thinking replicated in their attitude. This is where the internet comes into its own for me as I would have never found these people without it.

green flashes through the wind
as parrots turn
showing secrets underwing.
River sounds wake me
and soothe.
the earth rises through
my typing fingers
to tell its story.

Some new work - a preview of some work for the show.

Honeybee Democracy

Have just been reading this fabulous book. Thomas D Seeley is writing about exactly the same ideas I have come to without any real depth of knowledge about bee. It is an example of the kind of collective thinking that his book demonstrates that I believe as artists we can somehow tap into. I am very interested in the creative application of his ideas. The more I learn about bees the more amazing they become. I cant help but think that the examples of Internet enabled collective action that has been taking place across the world is an example of human swarming. I am excited by the notion that maybe we can find a way to think and act collectively that fulfills on the promise of communism which the examples to date so sadly disappoint. Can we operate as one species for the really important things such as the restoration of the environment and peace on the planet?

So much stuff on Bees

It seems that everyone is into bees. Or is it just that phenomenon where you see what your looking for? Yesterday I found out about the company Rooftop Honey who are putting hives on the roofs of business's around the CBD in an effort to bring bees back to the inner city. I went to a sweet little cafe in West Melb called Rollerdoor just near the old entrance to Nth Melb railway station. They have hives on their roof and a young man spoke to me about the benefit of having bees. Perhaps people are gravitating towards bees in order to understand how to live more cohesively. I think sometimes these things operate on a subconscious level rather than an intellectual one.

Preparing for exhibition

I am working on an upcoming exhibition at 45 Downstairs that opens on the 19th of April.
I am currently creating an installation of glass drips that will be filled with honey in as many different varieties that I can find. So far I have 30 different honey's.