Michał Smandek
The Bee Library
8.11-6.12.2024

Finissage:
December 6, 18:00

In his creative practice, Michał Smandek delves into the interdependencies between the human and nature. For several years now, his research has focused on the behaviour of bee colonies in his family’s apiary, demonstrating that the condition of the bees and the well-being of people are closely related.

The Bee Library, a project relying on collaboration with the local community and collective action, is intended to prompt critical reflection that goes against the ubiquitous primacy of individualism. Michał Smandek invites you to contribute to a multi-element spatial installation made of beeswax textiles. During the event that spans a series of workshops, those interested will have the opportunity to influence the shape of the exhibition, adding an element they will create on their own. Thus, Smandek shifts the emphasis from ”I” to “we”. By virtue of the project’s participatory nature, the authorship of the installation is spread out among multiple individuals, just as the labour of bees in the hive, while its ultimate visual outcome will only be revealed at the end of the entire event.
The tiny holes in the luminous, yellow matter of the textiles make up a pattern that brings a code to mind. We might call it a hypothetical transcript of the “speech” of bees, rendered through an obscure script. By the same token, the entire installation may be conceived as a Library or Archive of knowledge that we are unable to decipher. Structurally similar forms may be found in Braille, Morse code, punched cards used with the early computers or in Jacquard looms.

Even so, the essence of the project lies in the encounter, collaboration and communication that serve not so much to convey information as to establish relationships and nurture bonds. They are construed as the essential starting point for creating new models of envisaging the future, whose uncertainty - given the ongoing climate change - is something we not only sense, but already experience.

Projekt sfinansowano ze środków Fundacji Artystyczna Podróż Hestii.
Partner Fundacja Artystyczna Podróż Hestii i STU ERGO Hestia S.A