Belebte Wildbienenskulptur mit Bienengarten

The Belebte Wildbienenskulptur mit Bienengarten stands in Stuttgart, and it earns its keep as both artwork and habitat. Artist Jeanette Zippel gives the piece a double function: honey bees and wild bees live inside it. You can watch the bees at work in their natural surroundings.

The form follows an ancient depiction of the Greek goddess Artemis: a human upper body above a bee's lower body. Zippel abstracts that image into a shape that reads as human and bee at once. Honey bees build their natural honeycombs in the large hollow spaces of the oak, living there in social communities. The wood has antiseptic properties, which protect the colonies from disease. Wild bees live mostly solitary lives and need specific nesting conditions. Sandstone, clay, brick, oak and lava stone meet those needs. In the wild these bees are shy and fast on the wing, so this is where you get to observe them.

Around the garden, paths copy the dances of honey bees and run between meadows of bee-friendly plants. The planting extends the existing flora and feeds both wild and honey bees, creating lasting microhabitats and retreats. Walk one of them and you are tracing, on foot, the dance the bees are performing beside you.