Gemenskapspraktik / Erik Sjödin participates in Climate Art – Alternative Approaches at Chappe Art Museum with the projects The Political Beekeepers’ Library, Honeybee Standard Brain, Bee Shed, and Our Friends The Pollinators.

Climate Art – Alternative Approaches is an exhibition curated by Pia Hovi at Chappe Art Museum in Ekenäs. With artist Saara Alhopuro, Caracara Collective, Tanja Marjaana Heikkilä, Julia Lohmann, Mia Makela, N55 / ion Sørvin & Till Wolfer, Erik Sjödin, Studio Hendrikx (Bob Hendrikx), Superflex, Katja Syrjä, The Sustainable Darkroom (Hannah Fletcher, Noora Sandgren & Alice Cazenave), Jyrki Tsutsunen & Tatu Rönkkö.

The exhibition uses art and design to introduce a cultural perspective on ecological reconstruction. Its leading theme is fostering a more symbiotic relationship that is generated through the connection between people and extends to other species and the planet. The participants of the exhibition are artists and designers who, together, endeavour to offer alternative and constructive perspectives on the dystopic way of thinking that often prevails in climate change art.

The Political Beekeepers’ Library (2015) is an effort to collect, organise and activate books where parallels are drawn between how bees and humans are socially and politically organised. The books in the library show a development in the honey bee hive from the hive being a society ruled by a strong male leader, to being a monarchy with a queen, to eventually being some sort of democracy where decisions are taken collectively.

In this climate change context, the library can hopefully inspire more functional forms of democracy. This should be good for both people and the environment as dictatorship and climate care don’t seem to go hand in hand.

Honeybee Standard Brain (2022) is part of an ongoing investigation into similarities and differences between the brains of honeybees and humans. The 3D-printed and hand-painted wooden sculpture presented in the exhibition is a physical representation of the “Honeybee Standard Brain”, a digital model assembled by the Menzel Group at Freie Universität Berlin from images of bee brains taken with a confocal microscope. The scientific model serves as a virtual atlas to regions in the honeybee brain. The representation of the model presented here is, as an artwork, intended as an open-ended entry point into questions around cognition and consciousness in humans and nonhumans. The model is displayed in parts, sort of as a puzzle.

Perhaps, in essence, climate change is the result of needs and wants that our brains are part of shaping and expressing. Maybe, if we can understand more about how our brains work, we can deal with climate change better.

The Bee Shed (2017 – ) is a simple structure, resembling a wood shed, which functions as a nesting place for solitary bees. At Chappe a bee shed will be installed in the garden next to the museum. The bee shed at Chappe is being built by a local carpenter from recycled material. In the museum shop and at bibod.gemenskapspraktik.se there’s a booklet with instructions for how to build and maintain a bee shed or similar nesting place for solitary bees.

Building a bee shed can be a fun activity and a positive contribution to the local ecology. However, what really can make a difference for bees and biodiversity has to do with how we do agriculture, forestry, and city planning etc on larger scales. There is some information about this in the booklet too. What’s good for biodiversity is generally also good for the climate.

Our Friends The Pollinators (2012 – ) is a workshop for kids, youths and adults to learn how to build homes for pollinators such as honey bees, bumble bees and solitary bees. At Chappe there will be a workshop on how to build nests for solitary bees out of reed, birch bark and other organic materials. The workshop will be held on June 17 2023.

Climate Art – Alternative Approaches is open from April 16 to September 3 2023, at Chappe Art Museum in Ekenäs, Finland.