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As a part of SAM’s major summer exhibition, Cover Versions: Mimicry and Resistance, we are producing an intriguing project with Brisbane-based media artist, Michael Candy.
SAM is commissioning the artist to research, develop and trial a series of Synthetic Pollenizers - robotic flowers that work in concert with the local ecosystem to attract bees and increase the pollination of nearby flora. In a work that co-opts ideas from nature and transforms them through art and new technology, the vision is not dissimilar to Brautigan's cybernetic meadow. Synthetic Pollenizers examines ways in which innovative new technologies can be harnessed towards artistic and ecological outcomes, whilst supporting and enabling cutting edge media art practice.
Originally developed by Michael Candy in consultation with a resource ecologist, the project has undergone several prototype phases yet never brought to fruition. The artist is working with SAM Senior Curator Anna Briers, Melbourne-based urban bee keeper Nic Dowse of Honey Fingers and local community stakeholders. Join us in Spring for a glass of wine at Tallis Winery and be the first to hear about bees, the robotic flower field tests and view the prototype, installed in a vibrant yellow canola fields in Dookie.
Where: Tallis Wine Cellar Door, 195 Major Plains Rd, Dookie
When: Saturday 23rd September 2pm
Cost: $10. Book online.
Follow the project as it develops, then come and view its final culmination in the exhibition Cover Versions: Mimicry and Resistance where audiences will be able to watch the activities of bees in urban rooftop hives in Melbourne, live streamed across the internet.
IMAGE: Michael Candy, Synthetic Pollenizer (prototype), 2017. Image courtesy and © the artist.
