ABSTRACT
Nandita Baxi Sheth
BEING MELLIFEROUS: TOWARDS MULTISPECIES AESTHETICS
Following the bee engages terra, flora, atmosphere, climate, cosmos, and animal species including the human. Human-bee relations, which are transhistorical and transcultural, spanning from prehistory to contemporary times, articulate relations across these planetary registers through a variety of aesthetic forms. This dissertation focuses on the honey bee, her creations of honey, wax, propolis, hives, and the entity of pollen. It then traces entangled transformations occurring across the airy rhizome of pollination to develop the overarching concept of what I call being melliferous. Being melliferous, a biological term for mutual reciprocities across plants and pollinators, is adapted into an aesthetic-philosophic proposal for rethinking hegemonic and anthropocentric paradigms of “nature” by incorporating a post-humanist, multispecies lens. Drawing from a range of thinkers including Jacques Derrida, Jane Bennett, Edouard Glissant, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Gaston Bachelard, Michel Serres, Luce Irigaray and others; a hybrid methodology of affective phenomenology inspired by multispecies studies and deconstruction is practiced to develop concepts of being melliferous that work towards multispecies aesthetics.
The six concepts of being melliferous - blur, gather, hum, threshold, permeability, and shimmer - emerge from human artistic-poetic practices that incorporate and interpret bees and bee adjacent substances. In addition to human crafted artifacts, artworks, installations, and fictional narratives; the creations of honey bees are also considered aesthetically and philosophically revising historical human-bee relationships to include the bee as artist and maker. These complex notions are explored through close analysis of bee-centric artworks created by artists including Joseph Beuys, Agentha Dyck, Terence Koh, Wolfgang Laib, Maria Fernanda Cardoso, and others; narratives written by authors Laline Paull and Sarah Blake; and ancient artifacts. As a result, the dissertation aims at revealing interspecies collaborative engagement relevant for the future understanding of planetary aesthetics.
Key Words: bee, multispecies aesthetics, blur, gather, hum, threshold, permeability, shimmer, being melliferous
Nandita Baxi Sheth
BEING MELLIFEROUS: TOWARDS MULTISPECIES AESTHETICS
Following the bee engages terra, flora, atmosphere, climate, cosmos, and animal species including the human. Human-bee relations, which are transhistorical and transcultural, spanning from prehistory to contemporary times, articulate relations across these planetary registers through a variety of aesthetic forms. This dissertation focuses on the honey bee, her creations of honey, wax, propolis, hives, and the entity of pollen. It then traces entangled transformations occurring across the airy rhizome of pollination to develop the overarching concept of what I call being melliferous. Being melliferous, a biological term for mutual reciprocities across plants and pollinators, is adapted into an aesthetic-philosophic proposal for rethinking hegemonic and anthropocentric paradigms of “nature” by incorporating a post-humanist, multispecies lens. Drawing from a range of thinkers including Jacques Derrida, Jane Bennett, Edouard Glissant, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Gaston Bachelard, Michel Serres, Luce Irigaray and others; a hybrid methodology of affective phenomenology inspired by multispecies studies and deconstruction is practiced to develop concepts of being melliferous that work towards multispecies aesthetics.
The six concepts of being melliferous - blur, gather, hum, threshold, permeability, and shimmer - emerge from human artistic-poetic practices that incorporate and interpret bees and bee adjacent substances. In addition to human crafted artifacts, artworks, installations, and fictional narratives; the creations of honey bees are also considered aesthetically and philosophically revising historical human-bee relationships to include the bee as artist and maker. These complex notions are explored through close analysis of bee-centric artworks created by artists including Joseph Beuys, Agentha Dyck, Terence Koh, Wolfgang Laib, Maria Fernanda Cardoso, and others; narratives written by authors Laline Paull and Sarah Blake; and ancient artifacts. As a result, the dissertation aims at revealing interspecies collaborative engagement relevant for the future understanding of planetary aesthetics.
Key Words: bee, multispecies aesthetics, blur, gather, hum, threshold, permeability, shimmer, being melliferous
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................................ vii
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................. viii
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER ONE: HONEY, BLUR............................................................................................... 30
1.1 A Thousand Flowers............................................................................................................... 31
1.2 Blur.......................................................................................................................................... 36
1.3 Joseph Beuys’ From the Life of Bees..................................................................................... 38
1.4 Fluxus: Aesthetics of Flow...................................................................................................... 46
1.5 Joseph Beuys’ How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare........................................................ 51
1.6 Joseph Beuys’ Honeypump in the Workplace ....................................................................... 59
1.7 Ann Hamilton’s Privation and Excesses ............................................................................... 72
1.8 Enchantment............................................................................................................................ 76
1.9 Madhu Vidya (Honey Doctrine) and Honey Biochemistry..................................................... 79
CHAPTER TWO: WAX, GATHER............................................................................................. 84
2.1 Insect Aesthetics...................................................................................................................... 85
2.2 Honeycomb Composition........................................................................................................ 90
2.3 Honeycomb in Mathematics and Myth................................................................................... 92
2.4 Waxy Impressions................................................................................................................... 95
2.5 Gather.................................................................................................................................... 100
2.6 Ava Roth’s Bee Colony Collaborations ............................................................................... 103
2.7 Honeycomb as Archive......................................................................................................... 111
2.8 Tomáš Libertíny’s Eternity (a.k.a. Nefertiti)......................................................................... 115
2.9 Aganetha Dyck’s “The Power of the Small”........................................................................ 125
2.10 Pierre Huyghe’s Exomind (Deep Water)............................................................................. 132
CHAPTER THREE
PART ONE: HIVE, HUM........................................................................................................... 138
3.1 Hum....................................................................................................................................... 139
3.2 Wolfgang Buttress’ The Hive................................................................................................ 144
3.3 Listening to Bees................................................................................................................... 149
3.4 Terrence Koh’s Bee Chapels................................................................................................. 152
3.5 Remembering With Sound.................................................................................................... 160
PART TWO: HIVE, THRESHOLD........................................................................................... 168
3.6 Propolis and Hive.................................................................................................................. 169
3.7 Threshold............................................................................................................................... 173
3.8 Ben Knight’s, The Last Honey Hunter.................................................................................. 177
3.9 Ingo Arndt’s Wild Honey Bees.............................................................................................. 182
3.10 Aladin Borioli’s Hives and Bannkörbe............................................................................... 184
3.11 Box Hives and Colonies...................................................................................................... 192
CHAPTER FOUR: POLLEN, PERMEABILITY...................................................................... 204
4.1 Pollen, Pollination, Allergy................................................................................................... 205
4.2 Airy Rhizome and Malia Bee Pendant................................................................................. 212
4.3 Maria Fernanada Cardoso’s Sandstone Pollen...................................................................... 215
4.4 Wolfgang Laib’s Pollen Squares and Fu-shuang Li’s Pollen Rings..................................... 222
4.5 Pharmakon and Permeability................................................................................................ 234
CHAPTER FIVE: WINGS, SHIMMER..................................................................................... 246
5.1 Apian Phenomenology and Laline Paull’s The Bees............................................................ 247
5.2 Shimmer and Minoan Gold Ring.......................................................................................... 257
5.3 Dance as Geophilosophy....................................................................................................... 265
5.4 A World Without Bees, R.K. Fauth’s Poetry........................................................................ 271
5.5 Luci Jockel’s The Gold Veil.................................................................................................. 274
CONCLUSION: BEING MELLIFEROUS................................................................................ 286
ENDNOTES ............................................................................................................................... 299
APPENDICES............................................................................................................................. 320
WORKS CITED.......................................................................................................................... 323
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................................ vii
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................. viii
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER ONE: HONEY, BLUR............................................................................................... 30
1.1 A Thousand Flowers............................................................................................................... 31
1.2 Blur.......................................................................................................................................... 36
1.3 Joseph Beuys’ From the Life of Bees..................................................................................... 38
1.4 Fluxus: Aesthetics of Flow...................................................................................................... 46
1.5 Joseph Beuys’ How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare........................................................ 51
1.6 Joseph Beuys’ Honeypump in the Workplace ....................................................................... 59
1.7 Ann Hamilton’s Privation and Excesses ............................................................................... 72
1.8 Enchantment............................................................................................................................ 76
1.9 Madhu Vidya (Honey Doctrine) and Honey Biochemistry..................................................... 79
CHAPTER TWO: WAX, GATHER............................................................................................. 84
2.1 Insect Aesthetics...................................................................................................................... 85
2.2 Honeycomb Composition........................................................................................................ 90
2.3 Honeycomb in Mathematics and Myth................................................................................... 92
2.4 Waxy Impressions................................................................................................................... 95
2.5 Gather.................................................................................................................................... 100
2.6 Ava Roth’s Bee Colony Collaborations ............................................................................... 103
2.7 Honeycomb as Archive......................................................................................................... 111
2.8 Tomáš Libertíny’s Eternity (a.k.a. Nefertiti)......................................................................... 115
2.9 Aganetha Dyck’s “The Power of the Small”........................................................................ 125
2.10 Pierre Huyghe’s Exomind (Deep Water)............................................................................. 132
CHAPTER THREE
PART ONE: HIVE, HUM........................................................................................................... 138
3.1 Hum....................................................................................................................................... 139
3.2 Wolfgang Buttress’ The Hive................................................................................................ 144
3.3 Listening to Bees................................................................................................................... 149
3.4 Terrence Koh’s Bee Chapels................................................................................................. 152
3.5 Remembering With Sound.................................................................................................... 160
PART TWO: HIVE, THRESHOLD........................................................................................... 168
3.6 Propolis and Hive.................................................................................................................. 169
3.7 Threshold............................................................................................................................... 173
3.8 Ben Knight’s, The Last Honey Hunter.................................................................................. 177
3.9 Ingo Arndt’s Wild Honey Bees.............................................................................................. 182
3.10 Aladin Borioli’s Hives and Bannkörbe............................................................................... 184
3.11 Box Hives and Colonies...................................................................................................... 192
CHAPTER FOUR: POLLEN, PERMEABILITY...................................................................... 204
4.1 Pollen, Pollination, Allergy................................................................................................... 205
4.2 Airy Rhizome and Malia Bee Pendant................................................................................. 212
4.3 Maria Fernanada Cardoso’s Sandstone Pollen...................................................................... 215
4.4 Wolfgang Laib’s Pollen Squares and Fu-shuang Li’s Pollen Rings..................................... 222
4.5 Pharmakon and Permeability................................................................................................ 234
CHAPTER FIVE: WINGS, SHIMMER..................................................................................... 246
5.1 Apian Phenomenology and Laline Paull’s The Bees............................................................ 247
5.2 Shimmer and Minoan Gold Ring.......................................................................................... 257
5.3 Dance as Geophilosophy....................................................................................................... 265
5.4 A World Without Bees, R.K. Fauth’s Poetry........................................................................ 271
5.5 Luci Jockel’s The Gold Veil.................................................................................................. 274
CONCLUSION: BEING MELLIFEROUS................................................................................ 286
ENDNOTES ............................................................................................................................... 299
APPENDICES............................................................................................................................. 320
WORKS CITED.......................................................................................................................... 323