Negotiating with the Garden

Technology that facilitates negotiations for spatiotemporal conflicts between more-than-humans

This project explored whether technology could inform how different species deal with time differently through the case of solitary mason bees (Osmia bicornis). Through his own experience of gardening, the designer arranged a pottery activity using the same clay the bees collect to build their nest. The designed beehouse in the designer’s garden monitors bee activity and controls the pottery wheel via its signal. When bees are busy, the wheel stops rotating and provides them with clay resources, thereby decentralizing the human’s time in the activity. Here, the technology facilitates the sharing of time, space, and material between the human and the bees.