Lasse-Marc Riek

In their diligent search for food, bees transfer pollen and thus play a crucial role in the pollination of plants. These industrious insects are responsible for almost 80 percent of the reproduction of wild and cultivated plants. This makes it all the more worrying that their buzzing and humming is becoming increasingly quieter. Wild bees are threatened with extinction worldwide. Their acute decline is partly due to the excessive use of insecticides and the proliferation of modernised agricultural landscapes, which are causing the bees' natural habitat to shrink ever further. Lasse-Marc Riek has dedicated a sound composition to the bee as the most important pollinator insect. For his walk-in fixed media installation, he made recordings in the "Palmengarten" and the Frankfurt "Botansicher Garten". (Dr. Nadja Tomoum)

Many thanks for the cooperation to Dr. Nadja Tomoum, Antonio and Moses from the Bienenbotschaft, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Christian Winter, the team at the Botansicher Garten, Johannes Braun (Fotos) and, of course, the bees!

The work will be presented as a fixed media installation in the Schmetterlingshaus as part of the exhibition "Verspielt? - Roulette mit der Insekten- und Pflanzenwelt" at the Palmengarten, Frankfurt/M. from 18 July to 6 October 2024.