The Beehive Project

The Beehive Project is A large-scale installation from an interdisciplinary group of artists from Detroit, offering it's inaugural display at this year's Detroit Electronic Music Festival.

The giant beehive will function as a large sculpture, an intimate gathering space, and will also serve as a metaphor for the city of Detroit by referencing the hive as an ideal model for community. Historically, beehives have been associated with industry, diverse cooperation, and resourcefulness. Honey, their primary output, has traditionally symbolized the restoration of health, yearning for sweetness, and rebirth. These associations reference aspects of Detroit's history while also serving as symbols of hope and vision for the future of the city.

The beehive is also a particularly poignant metaphor because of the recent phenomenon of colony collapse disorder (CCD) affecting hives throughout North America. CCD occurs when workers bees from a beehive abruptly disappear, leaving the swarm without enough workers to continue functioning. By paralleling this trend with the steady depopulation of deindustrialization of Detroit over the past 50 years, we hope to honestly portray Detroit's distressed economic and social situation while still looking to the beehive as a metaphor for the strength of community, collaboration, and supportive, creative production in the city.

For more information regarding the project, visit www.thebeehiveproject.com