Capturing the sun/ Capturando el Sol -
an experimental honey-room made of glass
A colony of bees is invited to use a glass room to store their honey. Glass is not an easy material for bees. It is slick, the bees cannot attach themselves or easily walk the surface, the cool temperature is uneasy to them. But, honeybees are versatile animals and can cope with most difficult circumstances. The experiment explores these creatures' capacities and resilience by pushing the animals' adaptability.
The glass piece was prepared in the studio of Xaquixe. Christian Thornton blew it into shape. Then, it was placed on top of a colony of Don Pablo's honeybees (Reyes Mantecon). The bees started to shape the sculpture from inside with their own technique, building comb and storing honey.
The entrance into the glass piece is too small for humans to get the honey, it is impossible to harvest it. The wax and honey produced in the glass room stays locked inside, for spectators to see, but not to taste.
Glass is an easy observation material. It protects and shields the object, acts as a barrier without obstructing the vision. The bees' work becomes an artifact exhibited like a precious piece in the museum. The observation can be neutral or ignorant, without a certain goal or scientific aim. What we see might simply have an aesthetic value or reveal something new or unexpected.
In the piece Capturando el Sol a frame is provided for animals to work in, but they work according to their own rules. This possibly unfinished sculpture is a snapshot of an ongoing research around the observation of nature, in particular the life of bees.
The piece is part of the project EITC - Euroaxacan Initiative of Transformative Cultures - an EU project with partners in Europe and Mexico.
As a member of FoAM, the partner organisation in Brussels, Christina is participating in the "Fiesta de Maguey" case study. More on EITC here.
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