Author: melliferopolis

Melliferopolis experiments with new ways of understanding bees, beekeeping and the ecology of the hive. The project examines the role of honeybees and other pollinators in an urban context and explores the many differing relations between humans and these insects.

Who will pollinate the flower clock?

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For this year’s contemporary art festival in Mänttä (Mäntän kuvataideviikot), an installation with flowers has been planted that is a clock, of sorts. The selected plants display a circadian rhythm with their blossoms opening and closing at particular moments of the day, and are telling the time. How do plants know time? Will we be able to read their time? The selection of plants features endemic Finnish species that are perennial. All plants are chosen to be attractive for pollinators and provide a harvest of pollen and nectar for a variety of insects like wild bees, bumblebees, beetles, butterflies and others.

“Who will pollinate the Flower Clock” is a reenactment of an inconclusive experiment from the 18th century, conducted by Carl Linnaeus. It is located in front of the Museum Pekilo, in Mänttä and can be visited from June 13th until August 31st 2021.

The work is done in collaboration with The Hotbox.

Aerial view; installation after planting, photo by Tiina Nyrhinen

The Other Side is online!

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The summer 2020 was a perfect moment to explore abandoned and rampant gardens where the insect pollinators hummed like nothing at all have happened. Insects were not asked to avoid contact with their peers and the flowers bloomed as they always do. 

The Other Side aural space was published online in September 2020, introducing a selection of text excerpts written by philosophers, writers and poets from different times and countries. The common thread of these writings are bees, eternity and cycle of life and death.  The site is found here: www.theotherside.fi

Big thanks for Alfred Kordelin Foundation and their Digital Leap for Culture Grant, Wisa Knuuttila for the web design and video editing and other people involved in The Other Side now and in the past. 

The Other Side is an aural space that exhibits thoughts and writings around bees and eternity. The selection of texts can be listened through an augmented reality application at site-specific installations in public places or through this web site in four different languages. The Other Side is an artwork by Ulla Taipale and developed in the framework of Melliferopolis. The earlier editions of the artwork were exhibited in Helsinki (2016), Barcelona (2018- ) and Geneva (2019).

We are happy to receive any feedback, suggestions and proposals for new site-specific The Other Side installations around the globe!

Intro to Beekeeping and Insect Ecology

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The course at ARBIS – the Swedish Speaking Adult Education Centre – on bees, bugs and other insects and their ecologies is scheduled again! It starts beginning of March 2020.

Please find all the information for the course here https://ilmonet.fi/course/A200090. 

We will dive together into the world of these alien, mysterious animals. The course introduces the theory of modern beekeeping and explores other pollinating insects, their plant environments and the importance of these animals for urban ecosystems.
6 evenings of theory and a Saturday field trip (area of Helsinki).
No preliminary knowledge required. Everybody welcome.

The course is in English.

Walk to the Other Side 16th Sept, 2019

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We invite all for a walk to the Cemetery of Kings of Geneva, where the Other Side aural space is installed from the 19th June. A strong storm canceled the planned opening ceremonies, but on Monday 16th September, if weather permits us, actor Barbara Baker will interpret some of the texts, selected to the Swiss edition of the project, the curator of the exhibition Anna Barseghian and Ulla Taipale will give their insights into the project.

L´autre Côte is part of the program of 1000 ecologies by Utopiana, that will be launched tomorrow, on 9th September, with a huge variety of interventions, talks, an exhibition and other events in Geneva, Switzerland.

See you!