RESONATING BODIES- BUMBLE DOMICILE
A co-presentation between InterAccess
Electronic Media Arts Centre and New Adventures in Sound Art.
“Come and meet your most misunderstood
neighbours, but don’t mention honey….”
(Photo credits: Camera still RobCruickshank, Bombus Bee: Claudia Ratti c/o Packer Lab at York University.
Electroform hive by Anne Barros. Pink Bee Wasp Condo photo courtesy of Rob Cruickshank.)
Resonating Bodies- Bumble Domicile (part 1)
July 4-27 2008
on display at *new* Gallery 906 Queen Street West, Toronto (corner of Crawford and Queen W.)
Opening Reception Saturday July 12th 4-6pm at *new* Gallery
Followed by "The forgotten Pollinators," a talk by Dr. Stephen Buchmann at InterAccess, 9 Ossington Avenue, Toronto, 7pm.
Resonating Bodies is a series of mixed media installations and community outreach projects, which focus on the biodiversity of pollinators indigenous to the ecosystems of the Greater Toronto Area. Conceived by Sarah Peebles with Rob King, Rob Cruickshank and Anne Barros, the installations illuminate aspects of local biodiversity, such as bumblebee colonies and their foraging activities, ultraviolet bee vision, and pollinator/plant co-evolution.
Resonating Bodies coincides
with the release of Toronto’s first guide to native bees, “A
guide to Toronto’s Pollinators”, by Laurence Packer,
Professor of Biology at York University and published by the David Suzuki
Foundation. Free copies of this booklet will also be available throughout
July at several locations.
The topic of the booklet — some 23 genera of bees found in Toronto
—has inspired our exhibition. Collaborating researchers Laurence
Packer, Jessamyn Manson, Peter Hallett
and Stephen Buchmann will be giving talks throughout the period
of the exhibition.
Bumble Domicile,
the first installment of the Resonating Bodies project, uses
an on-site bumblebee hive at *new* Gallery
(906 Queen street West) and displays video and audio of its internal
activity, as well as other visual and aesthetic interpretations of pollinators. Headphones that "plug" into the
actual hive give the viewer opportunity to hear the bees while observing
them working in the hive. The space
is filled with Continuous audio transformations of pre-recorded bees
and shoh, the Japanese mouth-organ; an instrument which has utilized
beeswax and resin since ancient times.
Viewers are also invited to take free
bee trading cards, featuring macro photography of bee anatomy, life
facts and colour-coded DNA barcodes of the local bee species featured
in Resonating Bodies. These cards are the first in a series of
trading cards of pollinators featured in Resonating Bodies at
both *new* gallery and at the bee - wasp condo at the Franklin
Children's Garden on Toronto Island.
In Conjunction with the Opening of Resonating Bodies-Bumble Domicile, please join us JULY 10 for The official Opening of the Pink Bee-Wasp Condo at Franklin Children’s Garden, City of Toronto Parks and Recreation, on Centre Island.
Storytime 1pm.
Free and open to the public year round, more than 20 species of solitary
native bees and wasps can be viewed emerging, nest-building, visiting
flowering plants and collecting materials in the garden and surrounding
park. At the opening July 10, Dr. Stephen Buchmann
will read his book “The Bee Tree.”
The event will also feature discussions with Dr. Peter Hallett and Dr.
Laurence Packer, plus the opportunity to go on a “pollinator walk.”
This celebration will feel like a garden party or a picnic with snacks
and family fun.
Please see InterAccess.org for more Details!
The featured artists in Resonating
Bodies-Bumble Domicile are:
Sarah Peebles: audio material, audio programming; overall concept, facilitation
Rob King : visual programming, data gathering and projection
Anne Barros: electroformed copper offering plate with micro-controlled heating elements (collaboration) and silver bowl;
Rob Cruickshank:
technical assistance, live video, ultraviolet video/tech development,
technical and artistic consultant
Collaborating researchers: Laurence Packer (York University), Jessamyn Manson (University of Toronto), Peter Hallett (University of Toronto), and Stephen Buchmann (University of Arizona, Tucson).
Opening Reception Saturday July 12th
4-6pm at *new *Gallery
906 Queen Street West, 4pm-6pm.
Followed by
“The forgotten Pollinators,” a talk by Dr. Stephen Buchmann at
InterAccess
9 Ossington Avenue, 7pm.
Updates and more at interaccess.org
Media Contact:
laura.paolini@interaccess.org
(416) 599-7206
Resonating Bodies is generously
supported through the Drylands Institute, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
(Tucson, AZ), the City of Toronto Parks and Recreation and InterAccess
Electronic Media Arts Centre and New Adventures in Sound Art and is
co-produced by Sarah Peebles and InterAccess.
pollinator.org and pollinationcanada.ca
Pollinator Partnership provides information on pollinator - habitat conservation, pollinator gardens, co-evolution and more.