A unique project combining design and archaeology has been inaugurated at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The exhibition, entitled “Crafted by Bees” by Rami Tareef and Dudi Mevorach, is based on the bronze statue of the 2nd-century Roman emperor Hadrian, part of the museum's permanent collection. Thanks to a new technique by Slovak artist Tomas Libertíny, who creates wax sculptures, an original version of Hadrian's statue was created by thousands of bees in the museum's gardens.
With the help of beekeeper Rafi Nir, Tomas Libertíny and the exhibition curators placed beehives in the museum's art gallery gardens. Inside were 3D-printed models of Hadrian's statue. Cameras were then placed in the hives to document the impressive work of over 100,000 bees building nests on Hadrian's head.
“With Dudi, we wanted to bring together several disciplines and eras in a single exhibition, so we chose Hadrian's bust, as it's one of the museum's most important pieces. Hadrian's statue is one of only three known bronze statues of him in the world (the other two are in the Louvre and the British Museum). At the time, beeswax was used to prepare the model for casting. This is what inspired us to create the works, which combine natural processes with innovative materials and designs to reconstruct ancient technology”, says Rami Tareef.
The statue of the Emperor Hadrian was discovered by chance in 1975, broken into pieces and buried in the fields of Kibbutz Tirat Zvi in the Jordan Valley, before being reconstructed and exhibited 10 years later at the Israel Museum.
Hadrian's honeycomb sculpture links layers of historical knowledge to the Museum's contemporary role, preserving the past while addressing today's social and environmental issues.
“Technology has made it possible to unite archaeology with art within the museum. In 2022, I met Tomas during one of his visits to Israel and became interested in his art, which uses bees to create sculptures, it fascinated me enormously. We 3D printed a manipulated laser scanned hadrian's head and placed it in a special beehive, where the bees built a wax honeycomb at an impressive pace" says Rami Tareef.
“Tomas and I built a beehive ourselves and placed gopro and lights inside it to study the phenomenon of bees at work. In one of the videos we're showing, we can see a 72-minute time-lapse of 50 days' work, which is an extraordinary experience. Each bee has a very precise role, they're very organized,” explains Rami.
In the exhibition, visitors can see the meticulous work of the bees on a large screen, as well as the final result in the form of Hadrian's wax busts.
“This project brings a touch of modernism to an ancient work that everyone knows; we bring an approach that no one had conceptualized before. We've revisited a great classic of art history, superimposing our creation and involving 'local actors' who are the bees,” says Rami.
The project promotes an ecocentric approach, with the beehives becoming part of the museum's landscape, a means of cultivating nature in an urban environment. The resulting work serves as a metaphor for the coexistence of man and nature.
The exhibition was made possible by donors to the Israel Museum Exhibition Fund and the project was supported by the Slovak institute Jerusalem and Tatra Banka Slovakia.
Caroline Haïat
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