a series of mixed media installations and community outreach projects which focuses on biodiversity of pollinators indigenous to the natural and urban ecosystems of the Greater Toronto Area.
Banner: Colour-coded DNA barcode courtesy Barcode of Life Data Systems.
Photos: Observation bee colony and view of gallery installation by Dave Kemp, Bombus impatiens and flower by Amro Zayed
The installations illuminate aspects of local biodiversity such as bumblebee colonies and their foraging activities, ultraviolet bee vision, pollinator/plant co-evolution, solitary bee and wasp nesting life/life cycles, and colour-coded DNA barcodes (a novel new technique for species identification pioneered by Canadian researchers).
“Bumble Domicile” (July, 2008 at*new* gallery, Toronto) highlighted distinct features of bumble bees through an observation hive, garden, visual and audio transformations, scent, touch, and biological information. This installation / community outreach project at featured works by Sarah Peebles, Rob King, Anne Barros and Robert Cruickshank created in collaboration with bee biologists and other researchers in Canada and the USA.
The following video shows flowers that grow in a virtual garden triggered by choices made by real world bees in the observation bumble bee colony elsewhere in the gallery. The images were projected on the gallery wall during the Bumble Domicile.
Bumble Bee DNA: Detail of a bar code derived from the DNA of Bombus griseocollis. More about DNA Barcodes
This is a blog and web site dedicated to "Resonating Bodies", a series of mixed media installations and community outreach projects which focuses on biodiversity of pollinators indigenous to the natural and urban ecosystems of the Greater Toronto Area.
pollinator.org Pollinator Partnership provides information on pollinator-habitat conservation, pollinator gardens, co- evolution and more. Pollinator Partnership is a tri-national organization; this site brings together information regarding Mexico, the United States and Canada.
pollinationcanada.ca provides valuable additional insight into Canada-specific issues of topics related to pollination.