This article is part of a special Fine Arts & Exhibits section on how museums, galleries and auction houses are embracing new artists, new concepts and new traditions.
They can be thought of as worker bees.
Early Friday morning, a dozen or so contractors hoisted 500 pounds of honey-coloured, carved resin slugs from rolling carts and lifted them from the ceiling as sunlight streamed through windows overlooking Theodore Roosevelt Park in New York City. I hung it.
This was the first step in what would eventually become a tribute to the beehive and the power of the creatures that make it.
The project is underway on the ground floor of the soon-to-be-completed Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation (the much-anticipated expansion of the American Museum of Natural History) and is expected to open early next year.
The new 5,000-foot gallery where workers gathered that morning was the Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium, which introduces visitors to the extraordinary world of insects through large-scale models, interactive exhibits, and, of course, live performances. diversity. insect.
The resin mass was only one of six, totaling over 8,000 pounds, and varied in size, with the largest measuring 16 feet by 16 feet. Assembling the work, which the artist called a robe, forms a giant, abstract honeycomb intentionally attached to the ceiling, as if hanging from the branches of a tree. Giant artificial bees are hung around them, and real bees are nearby.
installation came to mind Karen Atta, sculptor and founder of Atta Studio on West 31st Street in Manhattan, which specializes in working with resin. Since 2020, she and her team have been creating, puzzle-solving, and crafting this massive project—what Ralph Her Appelbaum calls “an epic narrative of an exhibition.”
Mr. Appelbaum is the founder of Ralph Appelbaum Associates, a multinational corporation focused on museum planning and design, and was hired to help design and execute the museum’s vision.
“The hive will become a visual icon for the street,” he said, referring to the view from Columbus Avenue between 79th and 80th streets. “Normally, beehives are inaccessible in nature, so the scale is exaggerated.”
Art/exhibition special corner
Museums have always been enthusiastic practitioners in educating, protecting and preserving endangered insects. It was the hope of all involved to keep the focus on these important issues.
“Insects are the most diverse group of animals on the planet, making up 80% of the animals on the planet,” said Lauri Haldermann, the museum’s vice president of exhibits. “They are critically important to ecosystems around the world, but are endangered as a result of human activity, including man-made climate change.”
Apelbaum said the exhibit will be a large-scale model that combines science-based laboratory-like experiences, observation areas, digital interactions, and observation cases containing 17 species of live insects.
The backbone of the gallery is the trail of 60 football-sized bees, which begin at a pollination portal and “fly from one end of the gallery, pollinate flowers, travel to hives, and allow themselves to be embraced by insect architecture.” increase”. Mr Appelbaum said. “The story of pollination and how insects evolved and sustain our world is important to our understanding and central to the exhibit.”
Atta agreed. “The fact that this exhibit will educate people and bring awareness to our rapidly changing relationship with climate change, our planet, and our crumbling nature makes it all the more viable and attractive to undertake this project.” I made it.”
In an interview, she answered questions about the project:
what is your main goal?
It is worth noting that the beehive is naturally and organically based on architecture. It’s fascinating, bright and beautiful that bees know how to make these symmetrical hexagonal shapes. I wanted to create something that has an audio-visual element but still draws people into it. I wanted it to be realistic yet fantastical. A perfect example of an interactive installation.
What about interactive?
We are creating 6 lobes designed to represent an organic cascading shape. Each piece is unique and hangs at intervals from the ceiling, allowing viewers to walk among them as if they were tiny bees wandering through this huge, immersive hive. A touch screen monitor, buzzing sounds, and videos of bees.
Creating a hive required a highly specialized team of artists. Who contributed to this process?
Engravers, mold and model makers, woodworkers who use large rubber molds to create and engineer resin panel forms, and colorists and casting specialists.
What was your biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge was finding a way to deal with the weight and make the robe lighter. Minimum weight is 500 lbs. The maximum is 3,500. I spent months experimenting with different materials, including fiberglass and others that offered a paper-like consistency, but none of them gave me the visual impact I was hoping for. calmed down.
What was your biggest milestone?
The first was deciding on the right material: resin. The second was the color, honey. The third was to make the first full leaf. Because through that experience, I learned to change the process and decided to change the structure to make the hexagons or cell cross-sections more geometric and consistent. The fourth was to refine new techniques for manufacturing these large structures. This is basically creating a flat panel and thermoforming it in an oven.
How can the robe fit inside the museum?
Because the lobes are larger than the museum’s loading area or opening, they are each broken into two or three pieces and rebuilt in the galley. Loeb leaves the studio mounted sideways on an A-frame, is loaded onto a rolling flatbed truck, and hauled through the streets of New York to the museum. Each piece is then rolled into the museum, unpacked, hung, and remounted once secured to the ceiling. It probably takes 8 hours to hang the largest robe.
Is bee extinction a concern to you?
Honeybees are an integral part of human life and a barometer of how the world works. I hope people will understand and be more open to making changes themselves. action.