Angelika LauberThe Bees
I stand beside the Bee Family “APIDAE” because bees are vital to our planet’s biodiversity—pollinating entire ecosystems and ensuring food security. Globally, 156 bee species are listed as vulnerable, 20 as endangered, and 11 as critically endangered by the IUCN.
My relationship with bees began as a beekeeper, where I became captivated by the hive’s collective intelligence. Bees make complex group decisions that ensures their wellbeing and thriving without top-down hierarchy—no single bee has all the information or authority, yet together they find the best path forward through dance moves, shared signals and even calculations.
This fascination grew into an art project exploring what humans can learn from bees. It includes a storytelling performance infused by bee wisdom and an interactive bioart installation: a glowing honeycomb heart inspired by the old
European ritual of “Telling the Bees.” In the past, people would tell bees their secrets and important life events because they considered them non-human kin.
In the installation, visitors can now whisper their thoughts into the heart, which are recorded and played to real bees—inviting reconnection with the more-than-human world.
Here is an article by me about the Project “Lessons from the Hive: How Beekeeping Restored My Hope In Social Change”.