On 25.06 2020 had place fire at the house on Bræðraborgarstígur 1 close to the center of Reykjavik. House was inhabited by immigrant workers mostly from Poland, Latvia and Romania. In accident three Polish people died, two got seriously injured, ten people lost their house and all of their belongings. Under the address were register seventy three people of foreign origins. This tragedy shown not only that human trafficking takes place in Iceland, that is seen as egalitarian and progressive country. Local system did little to prevent the tragedy; house since 2016 was several time reported to the authorities and nothing have been done.
Hive is buring/ul się pali is an artwork that creation was caused by mentioned before accident and few years of participation of local activism for foreign workers rights. It is linking human systems to nature ones and shows that structures and hierarchy in societies are coming from nature.
The core of the art work are bees - animals that have an expanded system and hierarchy in their colony. Bees are being divided between queen, drones and workers, which is the majority maintaining the hive. They taking care of muggots, cleaning cells in the hive, guarding, collecting food and water. In European cultures often it is said that someone is busy as the bee, because their main purpose in life is to work.
Knowing those facts linking this species to the working class, especially those workers that are providing maintenance in social structures and are often of immigrant background. COVID-19 crisis showed that without those workers, we as society are struggling, although those jobs are often badly paid and exploitation is present on daily bases. Just like our western societies aren’t able to survive without those working forces, hive can’t survived without their workers, and in the bigger scale if bees will extinct other species will slowly extinct afterwards, because of their role in the pollination.
The title “Hive is buring/ul się pali” is a saying in polish from my hometown used to scared away the bees without hurting them. We believe that if the bee will hear about burning of her house she will fly away to save it. That shows how she is dedicated to secure and save her workplace and family. Use of this sentence have also a purpose to use word linked to the fire, indirect way link artwork to the tragic event from Reykjavik.
The numbers of bees in different part of composition are linked to the victims: bees in the centrum are the 3 victims, 2 in central low and top circle - victims that have ended in intensive care department, 10 - people that lost their homes, 73 - people register in the house, 4 honeycombs - number of years that house were reported. The symbolism of numbers and the form of the artwork is inspired by medieval manuscripts and ethic of work with images especially Scivias manuscript by Hildegard von Bingen. By this formal denouement artwork - story about immigrant workers/ bees become sacralized which is a form of appreciation of those that often being invisible.
