THE BALLAD OF THE TWIN BEEKEEPERS, 2006 (text)
This work reaches back to the artist’s Polish past and takes on an early twentieth century family legend about Siamese twins who were joined at the waist and, despite their condition, became highly successful beekeepers. Their state-of-the-art apiary was frequently discussed in the industry press and was heralded by the ministry of agriculture.
A very different source of inspiration - the 1927 photograph of Federico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dali (see below) has found its way into the imagery of this installation, perhaps, testifying to the work’s surrealistic provenance. Incidentally, 1927 was also the year when the apiary in question was established (and the year of the Pszczela Wola resort incident, which made headlines throughout Europe, when a swarm of bees attacked a group of seventeen vacationing school teachers, prompting seventeen fatalities).
A large bright red curtain spreads out in front of the approaching viewer. A giant bite has been taken out of its left side.
The array of visuals populating the work include two hives, whose walls are covered with bee patches (a typical occurrence during warm summer evenings), that recreate the map of the Philippines and the birthmark from the forehead of Mikhail Gorbachev (a shape that bears remarkable resemblance to the map of the Philippines). (see below)
The installation also hosts 730 fresh puddles of rain water (the result of a short storm that rolled over the scene), a floating deep-sea (deep-see) diver built entirely out of dead bees, an electronic device that provides relief from nausea due to motion sickness (a condition that dogged Gienek, the back twin), and the decomposing body of a small animal.
Yellow polyurethane earplugs make up a honeycomb here, and crushed mint leaves form a swirl after the beekeepers imaginary movement, supplying the work with an element of smell (the scent of mint paralyzes bees).
