The Hive by Wolfgang Buttress

As a world leader in the preservation of plants and the environment, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew became a natural second home for The Hive, following its success at the UK Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo.

The Hive is a dynamic architectural sculpture that you can inhabit, designed and created by Wolfgang Buttress. As we moved to open the installation at Kew, I was asked to become a key artist liaison. 

Working with teams across the Royal Botanic Gardens, I developed award-winning assets and an 18-month programme of events. This programme was important, not only to start a conversation about the importance of bees, the structures they create and the way in which the hive communicates; but also to start wider conversations about conservation and the role of pollinators in our food security. These discussions will continue as part of the programming until 2018. The Hive’s central showpiece was featured as one of CNN’s most visually inspiring moments of 2016 and remains at Kew as part of its wider programme for the gardens.