Bee Cubes

As a part of her research for the Synthetic Apiary II project, Neri Oxman focused on the ways in which honeybees constructed their combs, recognizing in them a communication system that shapes both the form of the comb and the hive’s collective actions. This system of signal, feedback and control is reminiscent of the principles of cybernetics and systems dynamics. When the signals are changed the honeybees respond dynamically to the new information.

The nature of these signals can vary widely—from the use of 3D printed chemical cues, to variations in the comb’s magnetic fields, or the integration of designs that change their form and complexity over time.

Summing up her goals for this project, Oxman writes:

Developing computational tools to learn from bees can facilitate the very beginnings of a dialogue with them. Refined by evolution over hundreds of thousands of years, their comb-building behaviors and social organizations may reveal new forms and methods of formation that can be applied across our human endeavors in architecture, design, engineering, and culture.

Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group, Natural Bee Cube, Synthetic Apiary II, 2020, beeswax, acrylic, Courtesy of Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group




Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group, Silver Bee Cube, Synthetic Apiary II, 2020, beeswax, acrylic, silver particles, powder, Courtesy of Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group




Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group, Golden Bee Cube, Synthetic Apiary II, 2020, beeswax, acrylic, gold particles, powder, Courtesy of Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group