Sculpture can lift a garden from ‘simply lovely’ to ‘inspired’ but sometimes it makes my heart sink. More on that another time, but the installation in Kew Gardens at the moment known as, ‘The Hive’, is really another thing altogether. I am going to see it this weekend if the sun shines – it looks amazing, and the gardens aren’t bad either.
The Hive is a unique structure, inspired by scientific research into the health of bees. Designed by UK based artist Wolfgang Buttress, it was originally created as the centrepiece of the UK Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo.
The installation is made from thousands of pieces of aluminium which create a lattice effect and is fitted with hundreds of LED lights that glow and fade as a unique soundtrack hums and buzzes around you.
These multi-sensory elements of the Hive are in fact responding to the real-time activity of bees in a beehive behind the scenes at Kew. The sound and light intensity within the space changes as the energy levels in the real beehive surge, giving visitors an insight into life inside a bee colony.
For more about The Hive see: http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/explore/attractions/hive
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