The children wanted it –

the teachers wanted it –

the mayors wanted it –

the local academia wanted it –

the local community wanted it –

the Salzburg Nature Museum wanted it –

the Raitenhaslach monastery wanted it –

the academy and the university wanted it –

the Botanical Garden in Nyphenburg wanted it –

the League of Nature Conservationists wanted it –

the audience in the Bavarian Parliament 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 an energy set in motion!

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 there knows it by now, in the centre of town opposite the ‘Mitfahrbankerl’, the official street furniture for ‘hitch-hikers’. Hosts diligently feed the worms and water the plants, the Karmagotchi does the rest.

Every two years, a similar ceremony is held, an ancient custom where the locals gather and proudly celebrate their community. The straightest and largest tree in the forest is chosen as the main component for this sculpture and made into the maypole.

The bee maypole was recycled from waste plastic that the children of the monastery school collected when cleaning up the riverbank, along the road and fields. At the inauguration ceremony, it was symbolically handed over to the children in the form of a certificate by the director of the nature museum. Ultimately, it is the children habitat that we are leaving to them.

Some time before the inauguration, a plea from the Orange-vented Mason Bee made the rounds. It was addressed to the local population to switch on their common sense and use their brains and hearts to create and maintain an ecological biotope on site. Now we are addressing all of the above-mentioned contributors in order to switch gear towards the following level of social cohesion to accomplish the next step.

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

There already is a concrete plan for a 3-day symposium in the monastery. What possibly would speak against it?

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

Eva van Heijningen, diZluv, Dane Diredare, Jakob Wurm and the local children Bläserkapelle for their artistry
Dr. Robert Lindner/Haus der Natur (Nature Museum) Salzburg and Stefan Angstl/City of Burghausen

Videography Martin