For the Bees: a song of will for the honey bee

I went to Swansea University last evening to attend the first public performance of For The Bees, an art project by Owen Griffiths and Fern Thomas. To highlight the plight of the vanishing honey bee, Owen and Fern have commissioned a piece of choral music to sing to two hives of honey bees that have been installed in the grounds of the university. The choir has been brought together from interested people (mostly amateur singers) and last night they gathered with an audience of around thirty folk, to perform the piece, composed in collaboration with Swansea's Mial Watkins.

Owen spoke to the BBC about the performance: "The idea is that this coming together to sing to the bees really is a poetic gesture to the bees, to reconnect and engage people, to see that the bees are in trouble...It's going to have a very haunting quality to it - it's like a lament to the bees." seen here

The idea behind the work is to experiment with the effect the singing and the positive intentions of the participants may have on the well being of the bees, and at the same time raise awareness of the issue.

There was also a gold painted caravan which serves as a mobile cinema at the site (nick-named 'Penny') where you could watch a film to learn about the crisis that has initiated the project.

It is a lovely project, the piece was very short, only about three minutes, but it was very beautiful, hope the bees enjoyed it...