Dedication of the BeeTotem in Raitenhaslach

the teachers wanted it –

the university wanted it –

the Salzburg Museum wanted it –

the local community wanted it –

the Raitenhaslach monastery wanted it –

the nature conservation association wanted it –

the mayors wanted it –

the academy and the university wanted it –

the listeners in the Bavarian parliament wanted it –

the botanical garden in Nymphenburg wanted it –

the international consortium of specialists wanted it –

without a doubt, the orange-vented mason bee wants it too!

All pulling in the same direction – what energy is set in motion!

Art and science, matter and spirit, body and soul.

Art and science, matter and spirit, body and soul.

The children call it the Bee Maypole.

The Bee Maypole is a social sculpture that brings people together.

Everyone knows it by now, in the centre of the village opposite the ‘Mitfahrbankerl’, the official street furniture for hitchhikers. Hosts diligently feed the worms and water the plants, the Karmagotchi does the rest.

Every two years a similar ceremony is held, a centuries-old custom in which the local people come together and proudly celebrate their community. The straightest and tallest tree in the forest was chosen as the main component of this sculpture and was transformed into a maypole.

The Bee Maypole is recycled from waste plastic that the children of the monastery school collected while cleaning up the riverbank, the roadside and the field. During the dedication ceremony it was symbolically handed over to the children by the director of the natural history museum in the form of a certificate. After all, it is their habitat that we leave to the children.

Some time before the inauguration, a plea from the orange-vented mason bee

did the rounds. It was addressed to the local population, urging them to use their common sense and to use their brains and hearts to create and maintain an ecological biotope on the spot. We now turn to all the players mentioned above to take the next step with even more force and ambition.

Just a stone’s throw away lies the Raitenhaslach monastery, which is devoted to education and knowledge and has been converted by the Technical University of Munich for conferences and seminars. We plan to bring the ‘willing’ together there again to work out a strategy, a ‘plan de campagne’, an effective method that can be used locally and internationally.

A concrete plan already exists for this 3-day symposium in the monastery.

What is still stopping us?

Children from the local school collecting waste plastic for upcycling

Many thanks to Hary Hein, Christopher Kaiser, Moni, Kathrin Pistulka, Daniel, Beate, Andy, Melly, Sandra, Hans and Sabine, the local hosts, Nodes, Mrs Königseder, Lena and Luisa and all the local children.

Eva van Heijningen, diZluv, Dane Diredare, Jakob Wurm with his children’s brass band for their artistic work
Dr Robert Lindner/Haus der Natur Salzburg and Stefan Angstl/Town of Burghausen
Videography Martin