Week 5

For this week I have been image making. I have created photograms which I have then printed on my handmade bio papers. I have placed four images into hives and I am now waiting to see the outcome. I am presuming the images will look similar in style to the other images I have already collected, as the weather conditions and bee life time line are running relatively similar pathways. I am expecting the images to be torn and lifted from the paper, with small holes within the images. like this previous image I received yesterday.

I have also been drawing reference from exhibitions that are relevant to my work so I can create the best and most informative exhibition plan possible. I have looked at exhibitions by Wolfgang Buttress who created the installation shown below. It is made from 170,000 pieces of aluminium, suspended from the ground, which he has made to appear as a twist like a swarm of bees. The closer you get to the installation it becomes a hive-like structure of latticework whose low humming sound and hundreds of flickering LED lights draws you in to a multi-sensory instillation. The intensity of sound and light is controlled by the vibrations of honeybees in an actual hive at Kew that is connected to the sculpture. This has been very inspiring when thinking of the idea of distance when viewing my images. I have stated previously that I want the images to be viewed from a certain distance so the image is viewed as a whole piece and then draws the viewer closer to the image and draws them to interact with the image through touch and perspective. I think after seeing this exhibition I have broadened my mind and way of thinking to explore the whole space as an interactive piece not just my images.

artist Wolfgang Buttress "My approach to a sculpture seeks to frame nature so one can experience it more intimately I want visitors to feel enveloped, wrapped-up and involved in the experience, rather than adopting the position of an external observer.”

I have found an article which states “Honeybees communicate primarily with each other through vibrations” http://www.beeculture.com/catch-the-buzz-vibrations-in-a-colony-tell-a-story/. I could explore away of translating the vibrations of bees messages of fear or pain into the images and have the images/frames vibrating at a rate that could recreate there natural vibration. I have looked at other forms of vibration language and these include the tooting and quacking signals that virgin queen bees make when they challenge each other in a display of strength to determine who will be the queen of the hive; begging, when a bee requests food from another; and the waggle dance which communicates the location of a good food source.