Is it a bee? Is it a cab? No, it's Beecab!
19 June 2009
A London taxi has been specially customised by artists and scientists for Pestival, a unique festival coming to London's Southbank Centre in September 2009 to celebrate insects in the arts and the art of being an insect.
The theme of this year's Pestival is the collapse of bee colonies around the world. To raise awareness of the plight of bees, one of London's iconic black cabs has been transformed into a bumblebee in full flight, and even has a working beehive in the front seat.
Take a closer look at the Beecab and find out more about Pestival in this short video, in which we hear from Briget Nicholls (Founder and Director of Pestival), Alistair Hadley (Creative Director of Pestival) and comedian Robin Ince. (Running time: 5 min 16 s)
Read the transcript [PDF 172KB]
British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) beekeeper and Beecab driver, Steve Benbow, said: "Bees and cabbies have more in common than you might think - the way bees navigate is very similar to the way cab drivers use the Knowledge to get round London. They both service the city, and with the Varroa mite wiping out wild colonies of bees, urban beekeeping is more important than ever. Bees are vital for the pollination of flowers and fruit in the capital, and beekeepers are the only way the population of honey bees can be maintained in London."
Beecab will be appearing around London until the end of the summer when it arrives at Pestival 2009, where highlights will include: the Termite Pavilion, a six-metre cube on the South Bank showing the intricate design of a termite mound; artist in residence, renowned Japanese artist Noboru Tsubaki; a mobile brownfield site created by Bob and Roberta Smith to provide a safe haven for the capital's insects; and evening entertainment from the likes of musician Robyn Hitchcock and comedian Robin Ince.
The Wellcome Trust, which recently launched a funding scheme for scientific research into the disappearance of bees and other pollinating insects, is supporting Pestival.
Dr Pat Goodwin, Head of Pathogens, Immunology and Population Health at the Wellcome Trust, said: "The decline in bees and other pollinators may devastate our environment and would almost certainly have a serious impact on our health and wellbeing. As well as funding research into the reasons behind the decline in pollinators, the Wellcome Trust is delighted to be supporting Pestival, which will engage everyone with the vital role insects play in maintaining our way of life."
Pestival Founder and Director, Bridget Nicholls, said: "Insects are critical to human life on Earth. With over a million insect species, they are the most diverse group of animals on Earth. And yet insects are frequently misunderstood, reviled or ignored by the majority of the human population. Pestival will challenge stereotypes about insects and give them their rightful place, for good and bad, in our collective cultural consciousness."
Valerie Singleton OBE, a member of the Pestival Advisory Panel, said: "Since I moved to the country, I've really learnt to appreciate how many insects live along side us. I think Pestival is a wonderfulidea, especially now with our bees, those vital pollinators, in such peril. The timing couldn't be better!"
Pestival is also generously supported by Arts Council England, The City Bridges Trust, the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and is a Japan-UK 150 event.
Contact
Michael Regnier
Media Officer
Wellcome Trust
T +44 (0)20 7611 7262
E
m.regnier@wellcome.ac.uk
Notes for editors
Steve Benbow is a member of the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA).
Pestival is a mobile arts festival examining insect-human interactivity in bioscience, through contemporary art, cinema, music and comedy, as well as direct scientific demonstration and educational projects.
At London's Southbank Centre, Friday 4 to Sunday 6 September, Pestival is bringing together eminent international artists and scientists, and local and global communities to collaborate on cutting-edge interdisciplinary art projects, placing the natural world under the microscope in order to further public understanding of our place within the biosphere.
Pestival aims to initiate a cultural shift in the way people think, moving them towards a more integrated way of looking at the natural world. Pestival's lasting legacy is to forge new working relationships between disciplines, communities and species.
Southbank Centre is the UK's largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London's most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. The Royal Festival Hall reopened in June 2007 following the major refurbishment of the Hall and redevelopment of the surrounding area and facilities.
The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over £600 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.