ME, BEE & TREE

Bees are indispensable for the pollination of plants and blossoms. They are at the heart of our ecosystem and the beauty of our landscapes. Also at LABIOMISTA, bees find a home with ME, BEE & TREE, an art project focused on the connectivity between LABIOMISTA and the neighbourhood.

For two decades, alien and native plants have mingled on the grounds of LABIOMISTA. After the closing of the Zwartberg Zoo at the end of the last century, the park was returned to nature. Now too, nature is given free reign, and crops grow where they take root.

This wilderness and untamed nature are a nutritional habitat for bees. With ME, BEE and TREE, Koen Vanmechelen designed a real ‘bee village’.

ME, BEE & TREE is an airlift of seduction between LABIOMISTA and the local community. The bee connects people, as a sweet temptation. This tiny creature that we need for pollination.

Koen Vanmechelen

ME, BEE & TREE is a project that connects, that forms a bridge between LABIOMISTA and the neighbourhood. An airlift of food and temptation. Local beekeepers, Claudio, Robbe en Vangelli, look after the bee colonies. And also for the construction of the beehives, Koen Vanmechelen works together with locals; students of the Atlas College of Genk and young people from Jongenstehuis Junitas Genk. That is why ME, BEE & TREE is a strong example of how Vanmechelen as an artist collaborates with local communities.

Discover the local honey in the shop at The Ark.