Honing Bank Den Haag (Honey Bank)

Stroom Den Haag, backyard Maziestraat, The Hague

MORE INFO
www.honingbank.nl

Queen Bank
Location: Stroom Den Haag (backyard), Maziestraat 12-14, The Hague
Closed since 1 September 2014

Pollination Chamber
Location: garden GEM / Fotomuseum, Stadhouderslaan 43, The Hague
Open: 1 June - 21 July, 2013

Website: www.honingbank.nl
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"When the last tree is felled, the last river poisoned and the last fish caught you'll find out that you can't eat money."

An art project around the honeybee
The honeybee is the focus of the art projects Queen Bank and Honing Bank (Honey Bank) which the French artist Olivier Darné i.c.w. Emmanuelle Roule and the collective Parti Poétique are developing on commission from Stroom Den Haag. Since more than ten years Darné has been fascinated by this intriguing insect, as a bee-keeper and artist. As a pollinator of flowers, trees and plants the bee plays a crucial role in our ecosystem.

The bee functions as a graduator for the quality of the environment: both on the micro level on the scale of a garden as on the macro level of countries and continents. When there is ecologic poverty the bee will not do well either. In a rich environment it thrives optimally. It is alarming that the quality of the environment is affected to such a degree that the condition of bees worldwide is bad. Their number has been decreasing for years.

Olivier Darné wants as many people as possible to become acquainted with the bee and through this insect become aware of the dangers threatening our environment - and consequently us as humans. Therefore he conceived the art project Honey Bank introducing the honeybee into the core of the city. It so happens that at this point in time bees thrive much better in the city than in the country: illnesses and deaths are fewer and they produce more and surprisingly tasteful honey there.

How is the Honey Bank put together?
The Honey Bank consists of two parts: the Queen Bank and the Pollination Room. In order to realize these two works investors are needed.

Queen Bank: The Treasury
Location: Stroom's backyard in the Maziestraat (off Noordeinde)

Opening June 22, 2012
The Queen Bank, the Treasury of the Honey Bank, is an artwork consisting of a wooden object in which 20 wonderfully coloured beehives are situated. In this Treasury twenty queens and some 200.000 bees are raised. In each hive lives one queen with her own bee colony. The Queen Bank is managed by Hague bee-keepers and primarily financed by Bee Savers with a Bee Savings Account and Bee Ambassadors. From Friday June 22, 2012 the Queen Bank is situated in Stroom's backyard in the Maziestraat in The Hague.

Pollination Room
When the first part, the Queen Bank, has succeeded and enough Bee Savers have invested, the Pollination Room will be realised. The Pollination Room of the Honey Bank consists of a specially designed sculptural building which will be placed in the city centre for two months in the spring of 2013.
The Pollination Room is an artwork which causes one to see both city and nature with different eyes. Not only because it is an artwork that can be viewed but because it will also serve as a meeting place, a centre of information and as a deposit spot for the Bee Savings Account.

How to start a Bee Savings Account?
See: www.honingbank.nl
As a Bee Saver you can play an important part by starting a Bee Savings Account. This is a special kind of saving which thanks to the deposit of savers improves the chances of survival of the bee and maintains a healthy ecosystem. With your capital as a Bee Saver the realization of the Queen Bank and the Pollination Room are made possible, the hives are taken care of and maintained and you will receive products like honey, the Bee Deposit Book and more. Starting a Bee Savings Account means that you make an active and essential contribution to the preservation of the honeybee and the quality of the environment!

What does being a Bee Ambassador mean?
As a Bee Ambassador you contribute actively to The Hague's natural and artistic ecosystem, by adopting a hive. As a quid pro quo you pay a donation to artist Olivier Darné's art project Honey Bank. Thus you become an important part of the art project and you show that you and your colleagues are actively involved with nature, culture and environment. You may also choose to use your contribution to make another institution (such as a school) happy with a bee hive.
More info: www.honingbank.nl

Olivier Darné + Parti Poétique
Since 2004 Olivier Darné and his collective Parti Poétique consisting of five artists have been realizing several research projects on the concept of Pollination of the City. Using this general denominator and starting from visual art and related disciplines he concentrates on the urban environment. Through artworks, installations and happenings in public space using the bee both as a medium and a scout, a many-sided harvest originates within this artistic project. Since 2009 Olivier has been working on the project Honey Bank. In 2011 Darné opened an experimental centre for art and environment Zone Sensible (‘Hot Spot') in St. Denis (a suburb of Paris). In March 2012 Olivier Darné received the prestigious international COAL Art & Environment Prize for his project Queen Bank.
www.banquedumiel.org
www.zonesensible.org

Partners Honey Bank Den Haag
Studio Vruchtvlees: www.vruchtvlees.com
Stroom Den Haag: www.stroom.nl
Seeds: www.seeds.nl
Banque du miel: www.banquedumiel.org

Honey Bank is made possible in part by:
Fonds 1818, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Imkersvereniging Den Haag e.o., Haags Milieucentrum; Pierre Gardent-Lisle and Sylvain Bonnet (Parti Poétique - construction Queen Bank)

'The Queen Bank'. A short film by Enny Kleikamp-van Leeuwen. To watch it on YouTube: click here

The Bee Savings Account
photo: Stroom Den Haag
Mayor Van Aartsen of The Hague is presented with the first Honey Bank bee colony
photo: Hein van Liempd, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
Bee keepers brings the first Honey Bank bee colony to the mayor of The Hague
photo: Hein van Liempd, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
Opening Queen Bank
photo: © Stroom Den Haag
inside the Queen Bank
photo: Olivier Darné + Parti Poétique
The Queen Bank at Stroom Den Haag
photo: © Stroom Den Haag
The Queen Bank at Stroom Den Haag
photo: © Stroom Den Haag
A honey comb in the Queen Bank
photo: © Stroom Den Haag
Paul Wouters of the Haagse Imkervereniging at work in the Queen Bank
photo: © Stroom Den Haag
Beekeeper Paul Wouters in the Queen Bank
photo: © Stroom Den Haag
The Queen Bank at Stroom Den Haag
photo: © Stroom Den Haag
design of the Queen Bank
photo: Olivier Darné + Parti Poétique
design of the Queen Bank
photo: Olivier Darné + Parti Poétique
design urban pollinator
photo: Olivier Darné + Parti Poétique
Honey from The Honey Bank
photo: © Olivier Darné + Parti Poétique
Honing Bank during DAG HAP festival
photo: Arenda Oomen (courtesy Stroom Den Haag)
Honing Bank during DAG HAP festival
photo: Olivier Darné + Parti Poétique
Mayor Van Aartsen in Honing Bank during DAG HAP festival
photo: Arenda Oomen (courtesy Stroom Den Haag)
Logo Year of the Bee 2012