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Bombus nest (Toronto area species) reared by Michael Otterstatter / Thomson Lab, University of Toronto. Photo: Rob Cruickshank.
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Drylands Institute is proud to announce our sponsorship of “Resonating Bodies”, an installation-in-progress and community outreach project which focuses on biodiversity of pollinators in the natural and urban ecosystems of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada. The installation, created in consultation and collaboration with bee/pollinator researchers Michael Otterstatter, Laurence Packer, Peter Hallet (Ontario) and Stephen Buchmann (Arizona), will illuminate aspects of biodiversity such as bumblebee hive communication, ultraviolet bee vision, pollinator/plant co-evolution, solitary bee and wasp nesting life and the color-coded DNA barcodes of pollinating insects involved in the project (a novel new technique for species identification pioneered by Canadian researchers). The installation — in two parts which, ultimately, may be presented together as a single work — will take place at Toronto venues in 2008 and 2009.
You can view our research as it progresses, hear sample audio, and stay updated at Resonating Bodies website
Pending separate funding, Resonating Bodies will be the subject of a web-based interactive media work hosted by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC). The site will create an over-arching view of the project, bringing together scientific source materials used in the project’s creation, documentation of the installations and their development, and, interviews with the participating artists, technicians and researchers. NAPPC is a tri-national pollinator-habitat advocacy and research cooperative involving 120 organizations in Canada, USA and Mexico.
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