Sample video of a part of an installation I am setting up in the *New* gallery in Toronto.

Project Description:
The foraging activities of our bees will be the focus of our
observation. As we know, the collection of pollen is both necessary for the feeding of the bees, and the pollination (and thus reproduction) of the plants and creation of genetic diversity. While this fact is common knowledge, the time scales and distances involved make it difficult for most people to link cause and effect or have first-hand knowledge of the link between bees, plant reproduction and genetic diversity. This part of the project aims to draw a direct causal relation between bee pollination and plant reproduction by both to shrinking the time and distances involved in the process and linking the real-life act of bees collecting pollen with the growth of flowers in virtual/gallery space. To do this, a video camera has been placed at the entry point of the hive so that the comings and goings of the bees will be monitored. By painting the stamens of a variety of plants
in the garden adjacent to the New gallery with florescent dye powders, it is possible to track which plants the bees are collecting pollen from. The camera will be able to tell which plants the bees are pollinating by measuring their colour. These data will trigger the growth of virtual flowers within the gallery space. The form that the Virtual flowers take will be procedurally generated based on the genetic data (DNA sequences) of the plants which are tagged in the garden. A second camera has also been placed to monitor the behaviour of the hive as a whole and can be viewed as a central fixture in the virtual garden.