Artistic collaborators are not always human: one of the standout works at Art Rotterdam this year is Slovakian artist and Rotterdammer Tomáš Libertíny's bust of the ancient Egyptian queen, Nefertiti—made from honeycomb with the help of a colony of bees.
“Every time it’s a question of waiting to see how the sculpture comes out of the beehive,” he tells the Volkskrant. He was inspired by the Egyptian parallels in the insect world and the idea of collective power. Unlike the mournfully short life-span of the worker bee, “[a] queen bee lives for five years, so she has to care well for her people otherwise she will not survive,” he says.
The work is being shown in the newly-minted Artistic Matter section of Art Rotterdam from 1 February at the Van Nelle factory. You can also find Libertíny’s honeycomb works in collections such as MoMA in New York.
Hugo Borst, founder of Galerie Weisbard (who is showing the work at the fair), said installing the piece was the biggest challenge. “I’m a bit tired carrying these fragile yet heavy artworks,” he said at the press opening. “Tomáš said: ‘Don’t drop it!’”