Salvage/ Salvation: HIVE

Link to Salvage/Salvation Overview

Salvage/Salvation Part 4: HIVE was an art installation and social action that was commissioned by the Queens Botanical Garden in New York City in June and July of 2006.

For HIVE, the participating artists worked using the design principles of bees, wasps, and other insects to address how we use what we use when we build, and why. Insects use what’s around them to make complex, sturdy and often beautiful structures—-beehives, wasp’s nests, termite mounds and anthills are just a few of the many homes that insects make. These marvels of engineering are built from a combination of the insects’ own secretions and materials that are found and transformed into building blocks. Insects transform using all kinds of methods, and the “decay” that they cause is also a way of recovering and recycling.

HIVE also included two series of workshops:
Building Like a Bug: HIVE Principal artist Alessandra Nichols led workshop participants in creating sculptures based on insect architecture, using materials found in the Garden. The final sculptures from the workshops were incorporated into the show and were on display throughout June and July.
Spiderwebs!: Inspector Collector (artist Harley Spiller) led a workshop on building spiderwebs and spiders.