The public program for The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100 includes tours of The New Museum for Bees, an ongoing project by the German group finger launched in 2012. During the tours, developed by the artists for the Moscow version of their project, Garage guides will tell visitors about the history and specifics of bee colonies and beekeeping in general.
Historically, bees and the life of bee colonies have attracted a great deal of interest and have been the subject of studies which draw parallels with how human society functions. Learning about the workings of a bee colony in the center of the city while visiting an exhibition of contemporary art is, to say the least, unusual. Three museum spaces have been specially designed by finger to be placed over custom-built beehives. Each “gallery” examines a specific subject: the so-called “bee killer” (the parasitic mite Varroa destructor), the use of bees in gastronomy, and the global myth of the disappearance of insects in Europe. In this way, bees are once again a reason to talk about other issues, from societal and ecological to utopian and apocalyptic scenarios for the future.
