Our Barcelona store welcomes installation by artist Joan Bennàssar as part of Beehave project by Fundació Miró
Our most loyal customers will have seen that García de Pou often tries to bring art into our everyday lives. We are always looking for ways to ensure that the beauty of art is somehow manifested at our company through one or another of its various disciplines: design, painting, sculpture or, on this occasion, video art. The Fundació Miró and the artist Joan Bennàssar chose us as partners for the “Beehave” project.
Beehave is a project that combines a contemporary art exhibition at the Fundació Joan Miró with several public art events throughout the city of Barcelona. Honey bees and their survival are the main topics, with a particular focus on their place in cities: urban apiculture.
In 1923, Rudolf Steiner (scientist, philosopher and great visionary) predicted that bee colonies would collapse within 80 to 100 years. Ever since, the importance and symbolism of these insects has been the subject of scientific study and contemporary art. The exhibition reflects this interest by showing a selection of works and installations by artists from various fields who have approached the broad and complex issue of bees.
The programme of artistic events throughout Barcelona seeks to raise public awareness about the importance of pollination for preserving biodiversity and about the current state of environmental emergency in which we find ourselves. Just as its name suggests, one of the goals for Beehave is to educate people so that we improve the way we act and become aware of the impact our decisions have on the environment.
Joan Bennàssar has produced a video for the exhibition with support from Mexican beekeepers who need to battle against grayanotoxins as they try to produce honey. This group of toxins is highly present in the vegetation of certain parts of Mexico due to the abusive use of pesticides on transgenic crops. These toxins can be found in highly toxic concentrations within the honey, which prevents the beekeepers from being able to sell their product.
The video entitled “Mad Honey” describes the hallucinations experienced by a beekeeper who has eaten too much toxic honey.
The exhibition will stay open to the public until 20 May at the Fundació Miró. The installation by Joan Bennàssar at our store on Passeig Picasso will be on display until 17 June. This partnership with García de Pou represents an evolution by productive companies towards a more aware, environmentally-sensitive and sustainable model.
We invite you to drop by the store or visit the Fundació Miró Foundation to learn a little more about bees and the critical situation they are in right now.
Jerónimo Hagerman. “Relaciones mutualistas”, 2018
