Upcoming
Feast Mass #14 will be on May 6, 2017 @ 6:00pm.

Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI)
1946 Washington Street, 2nd floor
Roxbury, MA 02118

Enter through the Side Door on Thorndike St.


Proposal: Festooning the Inflatable Beehive!

Monday, July 30, 2012 | Posted by Alex
Maria Molteni & Colette Aliman

Describe your idea.
FESTOONING // NOUN 
  1. A fabric suspended, draped, and bound at intervals to form graceful loops or scalloped folds // a decorative representation of this, as in architectural work.
  2. A lacework of bees hanging together, leg-to-leg, between the frames of comb. The behavior is called Festooning. Some say bees can only produce wax from the festooning position.

We will construct an inflatable shelter in the form of an iconic Skep beehive. Inspired by all things Apicultural, we hope to create a dome-like space large enough (proposed at 12’ diameter x 8’ tall) for ten human beeings to snuggle in order to discuss, celebrate, and study honeybees, to contemplate their response to environmental changes, and to consider the beehive’s influence on social structures throughout history. Our inflatable will be solar-powered and portable. We will program tastings, performances, lectures, interviews, and Bee School at various locations in and out of doors! During such neuro-festooning sessions we may entangle and display thoughts and skills, offering entomology, lore, philosophy, and devotion.

How will you use your grant?
We need $$ for 2 aspects of the project. The first is materials: we will hunt far and wide for just the perfect light-weight colorful, industrial fabrics needed to make a durable and lasting structure. We will build with ripstop, nylon, tyvek, etc, rather than polyethylene. We will also need to purchase equiment for solar powering, various materials for model-building, and a blower. These costs add up quickly, but once it is built, we expect the structure to last for years to come. We also hope to compensate lecturers and performers in some way. If there is money leftover this will go to their accommodations, but we are also arranging service trades and other exchanges to presenters.

Why and to whom is your project important?
Our project is important for the whole community of honeybees and human beeings. We will bring up matters relevant to many aspects of life and environmentalism and hear from presenters ranging from artists to scientists to farmers. Bees offer a little something for everyone and we hope our hive will travel to museums, schools, festivals, or even random fields!

What is the expected status of your project by the time of the next Feast?
If we receive Feast funds, we will be able to start collecting supplies immediately. We are already working on a half-scale model from cheaper materials out-of-pocket. In 3–4 months we should have a significant amount of fabrication under way if not finished!

0 comments:

Post a Comment