GALLERIES ONE + TWO
HONEY FINGERS COLLECTIVE
FRI 21 FEB 5.30PM - THU 17 APR 4.30PM
OPENING EVENT FRI 21 FEB, 5.30-7.30PM
FREE TO ATTEND
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Standard hours:
Monday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Tuesday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Wednesday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Thursday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Friday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Saturday 10.00am - 3.00pm
Sunday closed
Note: there are special hours for accompanying events. Please see each event webpage.
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Platform Arts is wheelchair-accessible via our Gheringhap St entrance. Unlocked, accessible bathrooms are available on both ground and first floors.
For accessibility enquiries, please directly contact us at hello@platformarts.org.au
Bee Bread, Honey Fingers Collective. Photo by Sarah Pannell.
An exhibition of works that function as a dynamic ecosystem, where the symbiosis between species is continually activated, reimagined, and celebrated.
Spanning farming, food, artistic practice, design, and education, Honey Fingers Collective positions the common honeybee (Apis mellifera) as vital co-creators with humanity. This unique exhibition features durational, collaborative projects between human-made and bee-made. Honey Fingers Collective invites you to experience intricate dialogues between human and non-human life forms—including the microbiomes that thrive in beehives, human bodies, and the bread we share—illuminating the interconnectedness of all living beings.
The interspecies works involve fascinating collaborations between artist and bee:
‘Bee bread’ made from sourdough starter inoculated by the hive microbiome in a modified Honey Fingers hive, as well as human-made art and objects transformed by bees, with edible honeycomb aspects.
Ceramic works by Zhu-Ohmu are 'repaired' or modified by Apis mellifera, including damaged vessels reconfigured as edible honeycomb installations and damaged pots 'repaired' with propolis.
Gallery Two will feature ‘Co-worker,’ a bee chimney in a hybrid design created to foster safe cohabitation in public spaces for honeybees and humans. Co-produced with Nic Dowse and Jed Kelly, in partnership with Boom Gallery.
‘Symphagia’ is a performative gallery picnic centred around a communal meal featuring bread inoculated with microbes from Honey Fingers’ hives, seasonal honeycomb, and other honey-based ferments. This event invites participants to engage in a live exploration of fermentation—both as a food technology and as a form of interspecies collaboration.
More information on workshops and additional programs will be published on our website in mid-January.
This incredible exhibition by Honey Fingers Collective was enabled through support from a City of Greater Geelong Arts Projects Grant.
IG @honey_fingers honeyfingers.com.au
Banner image credits:
Mud Lamp, archival print. Mud Australia, Nic Dowse. Photo by Phillip Huynh.
Bee Bread, Nic Dowse with Giorgia Mocilnik, Honey Fingers Collective. Photo by Tom Ross.
‘The History of Beekeeping is Written on Ceramic Shards’ bee chimney, created with Zhu Ohmu. Photos Phillip Huynh.
‘Sparrows in the Supermarket.’ Photo by Sarah Pannell.
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The Honey Fingers Collective is a collaborative practice rooted in the ecopoetics of beekeeping, situated in Gadubanud Country, on Great Ocean Road, and Naarm, Melbourne.
Founded by Nicholas Dowse in 2013, the Honey Fingers Collective is a deeply relational and expansive practice, inviting diverse voices from the community to engage in fields such as music, food, education, floristry, fine art, ceramics, history, poetry, research, and essay writing, with the honeybee (Apis mellifera) as its central focus. Through these collaborations, the Honey Fingers Collective seeks to foster inspiring and positive experiences for both human and non-human communities, continually reimagining connections across species and disciplines.
