Bees Helped Build This Interactive Art Sculpture

We see plenty of art inspired by nature and even some that incorporates natural elements. But we’ve yet to see art actually made by nature. That is just one element of Daric Gill’s “The Translation Machine” interactive art sculpture that stands out.

“The Translation Machine” is a reactive sound art installation built for an upcoming exhibition at the Dunn Museum in Illinois. If nobody is around to appreciate it, the sculpture simply sits inactive. But if a person approaches, the sculpture beings playing interesting sounds. As that person gets closer, the volume increases. Gill recorded those sounds himself while traveling the world, using binaural microphones to harvest “3D” audio.

The most interesting part of this sculpture is the construction assisted by actual bees. While he was traveling and gathering those audio recordings, Gill left the speakers’ amplification horns at The Bee Collective. There, bees built honeycomb structures inside the horns. Now when sound plays, it filters through those honeycombs.

The horns and enclosure were built from sassafras wood reclaimed from an old barn. An Arduino UNO Rev3 board detects people with a PIR (passive infrared) sensor and their distance with an ultrasonic distance sensor. It then plays Gill’s recorded sounds through a SparkFun MP3 Player Shield connected to an amplifier and some Kicker marine speakers.