MA Fine Art Digital - Expanded Documentation

Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London

Graduated 2023 with Distinction

New Observations on the History of Bees

An interdisciplinary investigation into pollinator cognition, environmental crisis, and multi-species consciousness

Extended Research Trajectory (2021-2025)

Abstract

This research investigates the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bee cognition, memory, and sensorial perception through an interdisciplinary approach that bridges Western scientific methodologies with traditional knowledge systems. The work draws extensively from Rudolf Steiner's "Nine Lectures on Bees" and Joseph Beuys's social sculpture theory, exploring how individual and collective consciousness operate across species boundaries.

"These chemicals don't just kill bees—they fundamentally alter how they experience the world, disrupting the very fabric of multispecies communication that sustains our ecosystems."

The research has evolved from academic investigation (2021-2023) through transformative residency experience (2023) to cutting-edge technological application (2023-2025), culminating in deployed AI systems that facilitate interspecies collaboration and environmental intervention.

Research Evolution: From Theory to Technological Intervention

Phase 1: Academic Foundation (2021-2023)

Central Saint Martins MA Fine Art Digital

The initial phase established the theoretical framework and methodological approaches that would prove foundational for all subsequent developments. This period focused on:

• Interdisciplinary Methodology Development: Learning to bridge art, science, and consciousness studies
• Traditional Knowledge Integration: Studying Steiner's bee lectures, Beuys's social sculpture theory, and traditional healing systems
• Artistic Practice Refinement: Developing drypoint etching as active research tool
• Natural Material Investigation: Creating pigments from local organic materials
• Scientific Literature Engagement: Systematic study of neonicotinoid impact on pollinator cognition

Key Outputs:

• 82-piece drypoint series documenting bee anatomy and hexagonal structures
• "Inkblot for Bees" - 16 canvas works engaging human and non-human consciousness
• Research paper on ethical commitment in socially engaged art practices
• Comprehensive blog journal documenting weekly research process

Phase 2: Crystallisation Through Residency (March-May 2023)

Atelierhaus LEW1, Darmstadt - "12. Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie"

The Darmstadt residency proved to be the crucial transformation point where theoretical research met practical scientific application and deep historical context. This phase was characterized by unprecedented access to both scientific facilities and Beuys's artistic legacy.

Laboratory Collaboration at Technische Universität Darmstadt: Working with the Institute for Nano and Microfluidics, I gained hands-on experience with advanced scientific equipment and methodologies:

• Microscope Observation and Documentation: Systematic analysis of insect fossil inclusions in amber, Victorian microscope slides of bee anatomy, and microorganisms in polluted environments
• Amber Fossil Analysis: Investigation of enhydro inclusions—water bubbles trapped in crystallized amber containing still-moving water and air, embodying Beuys's chaos/crystallized metaphor
• Bacterial Culture Observation: Direct study of gut bacteria crucial to bee colony resilience
• Chemical Residue Analysis: Documentation of pollutant impacts on organic surfaces

Scientific Collaborations:

• Dr. Lentz: Exploration of bio-toxicology, focusing on gut bacteria and rapid pollinator decline in Darmstadt forests
• Prof. Boris Schmidt (Clemens Schöpf-Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry): Investigation of wing development defects indicating disturbed metamorphosis, particularly the "Notch" phenotype in Drosophila

Key Scientific Discovery: The health of gut bacteria in individual bees dramatically affects the resilience of entire bee colonies. Bees with poor gut bacteria show changed behavior, lacking enthusiasm for feeding young, finding pollen, and sharing location information. This finding parallels Traditional Chinese Medicine understanding of ancestral energy residing in the abdomen, suggesting ancient knowledge systems recognized what Western science documents through DNA analysis.

Block Beuys Immersion: Direct engagement with the most comprehensive Beuys installation at Hessisches Landesmuseum provided crucial historical grounding. The soundwalk documentation revealed:

"Bees as a bunch of little dusty dead bodies, left over a little corner like chamomile flowers. Engine pipes everywhere. They were meant to connect but that is not possible... There are also a lot of red crosses, they are there to remind us of the emergency we are in."

Major Works Produced:

• "Two Experiments with Pollution": Investigating mosquito larvae development in highly polluted puddles
• Ongoing microscope observation series: Systematic documentation bridging scientific methodology with artistic interpretation
• Solo Exhibition "A.A.LLES": Showcasing the culmination of residency research

Phase 3: Technological Application (2023-2025)

Alias x Serpentine Future Art Ecosystems Residency (March – July 2025)

Building directly on the laboratory skills and theoretical framework crystallized during the Darmstadt residency, this phase represents a revolutionary leap into computational intervention and interspecies collaboration.

Deployed AI Systems:

"BeeVision Fragmenta" An AI model trained to simulate how neonicotinoid pesticides fragment bee visual processing. The system:

• Reconstructs disrupted UV-pattern recognition in bee vision
• Makes invisible perceptual damage visible to human understanding
• Predicts degrees of visual disruption from specific pesticide exposures
• Serves as a diagnostic tool for environmental damage assessment

"BioViscous Bee Mask" A computational system designed to create bio-material interfaces that bees can learn to recognize and utilize for protection. The system:

• Generates protective barrier designs using natural glass and viscous organic compounds
• Optimizes material combinations through predictive modeling
• Creates interfaces between human technological capability and bee ecological needs
• Facilitates the training of bees to use protective bio-materials

Revolutionary Approach: Training Bees for Self-Protection Rather than imposing human solutions, the goal is to train bees to actively choose and utilize bio-materials for their own protection. This represents:

• Genuine interspecies collaboration rather than intervention
• Respect for bee intelligence and agency
• Evolution beyond anthropocentric environmental solutions
• Practical application of Beuys's social sculpture across species boundaries

Interconnected Research Methodologies

Drawing as Active Investigation

Drypoint etching functions not as mere documentation but as active research methodology. The physical process of engraving copper plates enables embodied understanding of bee anatomy and environmental crisis.

"Drawing enables my research to progress. It becomes the storyboard of what I will do next."

The tactile resistance of the copper plate creates knowledge differently than reading scientific papers—establishing physical empathy with subject matter that informs both artistic interpretation and technological development.

Natural Pigment Production as Systematic Subversion

Creating pigments from local organic materials—beetroot juice, flower petals, fruits, and plants found during walks—actively subverts industrial manufacturing culture. This practice mirrors natural transformation processes that are collaborative and reversible, contrasting with industrial irreversible extraction.

Laboratory Work as Artistic Practice

Scientific methodology becomes generative artistic act. Microscope observations, bacterial culture work, and chemical analysis directly inform creative output while maintaining rigorous scientific standards.

AI Development as Consciousness Bridge

The deployed AI systems serve as translation devices between human technological capability and bee consciousness, making visible the invisible catastrophe of perceptual disruption while creating tools for interspecies collaboration.

Historical and Theoretical Framework

Joseph Beuys and Social Sculpture

Beuys interpreted honeycomb-making as primary sculptural act—collaborative creation through fair division of labor. His metaphor of wax states ("chaotic" fluid individual production and "crystallized" collaborative architecture) directly informs the AI development approach.

The deployed systems embody Beuys's vision of social sculpture extending across species boundaries, where individual bee choices about bio-materials benefit entire colonies, paralleling individual bees contributing wax to collective honeycomb construction.

Rudolf Steiner's Bee Consciousness Studies

Steiner's "Nine Lectures on Bees" provides foundational understanding of bee consciousness that bridges traditional knowledge with contemporary neuroscience. The AI models draw directly from Steiner's insights about individual and collective consciousness in bee societies.

Traditional Knowledge Integration

The research systematically integrates:

• Traditional Chinese Medicine: Understanding of gut-brain axis and ancestral energy
• Vedic and Theosophical Frameworks: Consciousness studies across species boundaries
• Indigenous Environmental Knowledge: Bioregional relationships vs. technoregional extraction

Scientific Contributions and Discoveries

The Gut-Brain Axis in Bee Colonies

Investigation reveals how gut microbiota affects individual bee behavior and consequently entire colony organization. Bees with healthy gut microbiota engage in more social interactions and form stronger social ties, while microbiota-depleted bees interact randomly.

Wing Development and Environmental Stress

Collaboration with Prof. Boris Schmidt identified wing development defects indicating disturbed metamorphosis, particularly the "Notch" phenotype in Drosophila—a genetically determined effect relevant to understanding broader pollinator health impacts.

Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) Evolution

Research documented how DWV, transmitted by Varroa mites, manifests in two main genotypes: DWV-A (formerly widespread) and DWV-B (rapidly expanding since 2004, potentially replacing DWV-A).

Enhydro Inclusions as Consciousness Metaphor

Investigation of water bubbles trapped in fossil amber containing still-moving water and air provides physical embodiment of Beuys's chaos/crystallized metaphor and suggests preserved consciousness across geological time.

Environmental Ethics and Critical Framework

Confronting Colonial Extractivism

The research directly addresses how human aesthetic, and commercial desires drive pollinator ecosystem destruction. Art practice itself must be examined for environmental impact and potential complicity in extractive systems.

Bioregions vs. Technoregions

Investigation into how European colonialism and industrial revolution disrupted traditional bioregional relationships, creating technoregions that ignore cultural ties to local ecosystems in favour of global capitalist exchange.

The AI systems represent an attempt to restore bioregional relationships through technology—using computational power to facilitate rather than dominate natural systems.

Major Works and Exhibitions

Drypoint Series: "New Observations on the History of Bees"

Extensive collection of etchings documenting:

• Bee anatomy and physiological details
• Hexagonal structures and hive architectures
• Chemical compositions of neonicotinoids
• Microscope observations and scientific documentation

Created using natural pigments sourced from local organic materials, these works serve as both research documentation and artistic interpretation of complex scientific data.

"Inkblot for Bees"

16 works on canvas inspired by Rorschach tests, intended to engage both human and non-human consciousness through symbolic abstraction. This series draws from Western scientific perspectives and traditional knowledge systems.

BioViscous Project

Two-part installation exploring how pesticides affect bee perception:

• BeeVision: AI-driven systems simulating altered bee cognition using computational systems trained on environmental data
• Bio-materials Research: Speculative protective barriers for pollinators using natural glass and viscous organic compounds

Exhibition History

• "A.A.LLES" - Solo exhibition, Atelierhaus LEW1, Darmstadt (2023)
• "This Is Not a Party" - CSM Interim Show, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London (2022)
• Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair - Woolwich Works, London (2022)
• Press & Play - Phoenix Art Space, Brighton (2022)
• CSM MERCH - Koppel X, London (2022)
• E-ART-H / VISION-ARY - The Earth Vision Org, London

Publications and Documentation

Research Papers

• "The Ethical Commitment of Social Engagement in Art Practices" - Investigation comparing Monte Verità community with Joseph Beuys's environmental activism
• Blog Research Archive - Comprehensive weekly documentation covering scientific literature reviews, laboratory experiments, artistic practice development, and consciousness investigations

International Presentations

• PUBLIC! Conference - Accademia Unidee-Scuola di Arti Visive / Fondazione Pistoletto (2022)
• DigiFest Annual Research Conference - Durban University of Technology (2022)
• Symposium Presentation - "New Observations on the History of Bees 2.0" (2023)

Publications

• 99 Future Blue-Chip Artists - Artsted (2022)
• #12 Darmstädter Tage Der Fotografie - Festival Publication (2023)

Technical Skills Integration

Laboratory Techniques

• Microscope observation and documentation
• Amber fossil analysis
• Bacterial culture observation
• Chemical residue analysis
• Advanced scientific equipment operation

Digital Technologies

• AI model development and deployment
• Computational environmental data processing
• Digital documentation and archiving
• Video and audio recording for research
• Machine learning systems for interspecies communication

Traditional Media

• Drypoint etching and printmaking
• Natural pigment production and application
• Clay work and sculptural practice
• Performance and installation
• Soundwalk documentation

Future Directions: Interspecies Collaboration

The research continues evolving toward immersive, participatory experiences that invite audiences into expanded modes of sensing and understanding across species boundaries. The deployed AI systems represent the beginning of genuine technological collaboration with non-human intelligence.

Upcoming Developments:

• Public presentation of "BeeVision Fragmenta" and "BioViscous Bee Mask" systems
• Field testing of bee training protocols with bio-materials
• Expansion of AI models to other pollinator species
• Development of community-accessible bee protection technologies

Long-term Vision: The investigation reveals profound interconnection between individual and collective consciousness across species, suggesting artistic practice can serve as a bridge for understanding and protecting the complex relationships that sustain our shared ecosystems. The work points toward new possibilities for art as direct environmental intervention and facilitated interspecies communication.

Academic Recognition

MA Fine Art Digital, Central Saint Martins - Distinction (2023)

• UAL Postgraduate Scholarship recipient
• Artist residency: "12. Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie," Darmstadt
• Solo exhibition: "A.A.LLES," Atelierhaus LEW1
• International symposium presentations
• Extensive peer-reviewed research documentation
• Alias Studio x Serpentine Future Art Ecosystems collaboration (March – July 2025)

Contact Information

Email: please contact me through the form

Institution: Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London

Research Blog: https://andreaabbatangelo.com/projects/fridaysat7-mafad-csm (on request only)

Portfolio: https://andreaabbatangelo.com

Acknowledgments

Grateful acknowledgment to the biologists at Technische Universität Darmstadt, the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Alias Studio technologies, the Serpentine Future Art Ecosystems program, and the many scientists, artists, and researchers whose work informed this interdisciplinary investigation. Special recognition to the bees themselves, whose intelligence and resilience continue to inspire and inform this ongoing research.

© 2025 Andrea Abbatangelo. All rights reserved.

This expanded portfolio represents research conducted 2021-2025, building on the MA Fine Art Digital degree at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (Graduated with Distinction, 2023) and extending through collaborative technological development with Alias x Serpentine Future Art Ecosystems.