VARIATION GAMES are games where the set of rules is constantly adapted by the players.
The bees act as transmitters in an interconnected web of bio-intelligent agents. They construct a bioremedial beehive and create a symbiotic environment for exchange with specific bacteria.
They are sentient, perceptive; they see, feel, navigate and communicate. They fabricate and dance, they collect and build, they perform and reproduce. The result of this collaboration is a biotechnological device: the Intelligent (Guerilla) Beehive.

The video is a condensed edit of a year-long audiovisual observation of the behaviour of a honeybee colony in the private environment of their refuge. The recordings are made with an infrared camera and contact microphones inside the beehive. The content of this video focuses on the first 6 weeks of the observation, when the bees start the building of their nest. The images show how they first scan the empty space and detect all foreign objects (in this case paper pasted on the back of the hive), which they propolize and eventually tear down, thus appropriating their territory. They start organizing their activities to design the locus as their home. The images demonstrate and reveal decision-making, networking, collaboration and collective intelligence. The soundtrack is based upon recordings made in the beehive.
This video throws the viewer out of his comfort-bee-zone, and shows the colony in action from an unusual point of view.

The video was shown at:
– Miró Foundation Barcelona (2018)
– Museum of Tomorrow (Museo do Amanha) Rio de Janeiro (2018)
– Haus der Electronischen Künste (HeK) Basel (2018)
– Maat (Museum Art Architecture Technology) Lisbon (2018)
– Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon (Royal Visit) (2018)
– Piksel Festival Bergen, Norway (2018)
– Mirage Festival Lyon, France (2019)
– Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany (2019)
– Laboral Art Center, Gijon, Spain (2019)
– Rixc Un-Green Festival, Riga, Latvia (2019)
– The New Green Deal, STARTS at Snowball (2020)
– Meakusma X IKOB, museum for Contemporary Art Eupen (2020)
– Oortreders Festival Neerpelt (2020)
– Pilar Gallery, Free University Brussels (2021)
– iMAL, Center for Art & Technology Brussels (2021)
– Generation Y, School of Art, Manchester (2021)
– Réclamer la Terre, Palais de Tokyo Paris (2022)
– Alchimia Nova, Kunsthalle Mulhouse (2023)
– The Life of Animals, M hka Antwerp (2024)

Some reflections on Variation Games (AMM, 19.02.2025)
Variation Games presents the complex and fascinating world of a honeybee colony, framed as a dynamic game where the rules are constantly redefined by the players—the bees themselves. This video is a culmination of a year-long observational study, focusing on the early stages of the bees’ nest-building process inside a custom-made, biotechnological refuge: the Intelligent Guerilla Beehive. The hive acts as a microcosm for a broader conversation on bio-intelligent systems, symbiosis, and the interdependence between living organisms and their environments. The bees are more than mere insects in this space. They act as sentient, perceptive agents—connected in an intricate web of bio-intelligence. Each bee navigates, senses, and communicates with its environment and fellow bees, contributing to the hive’s collective intelligence. Through dance, sound, and chemical exchanges, they fabricate their environment, construct their home, and create a habitat that is not only functional but deeply collaborative.

This collaboration extends beyond the bees to other bio-organisms. The hive creates a symbiotic environment where bees and bacteria exchange resources, demonstrating a form of bioremediation. The nest they build is not only an architectural feat but a biotechnological device where ecological processes are intertwined. This cooperative ecosystem continuously adjusts and refines itself, reminiscent of a game where the strategy and “rules” shift in response to external and internal stimuli. In Variation Games, the video zooms in on the first six weeks of hive activity. During this period, the bees begin to transform the empty hive space into a living, breathing organism. They start by scanning the environment for foreign objects—such as paper pasted on the back of the hive—which they either propolize (cover with resin) or tear down, symbolically claiming and personalizing their territory. The soundtrack, composed of recordings made within the hive itself, complements the visuals, enhancing the immersive experience by bringing the viewer closer to the subtle vibrations and sonic language of the bees. The video acts as a lens into a world often hidden from human perception, where decision-making, networking, and cooperation are fluid and ever-changing. The bees’ behavior reveals an intelligence based not on competition but on a networked understanding of collective survival and mutual aid. Every movement, every action, serves the greater good of the colony, with roles and tasks shifting as needed. In this sense, the hive operates as a superorganism, where the sum is greater than its individual parts. Each bee plays its role, yet the lines between individual agency and collective will are blurred.

The concept of “games” within this context introduces a playful yet profound layer to the bees’ interactions. In the traditional sense, games involve a set of rules and objectives. However, in Variation Games, these rules are not fixed; they evolve in response to the situation at hand. The bees are the players, adjusting their strategies as they interact with one another and with their environment. The “game” is not a competition but a negotiation of space, tasks, and relationships. It is a game where the ultimate goal is survival, cooperation, and the maintenance of a balanced ecosystem. This parallels the viewer’s experience. The transparency of the bees’ objective—building a home—offers a starting point, but the true depth of their activity goes beyond this. The viewer is invited into a space where notions of individuality and ego dissolve, replaced by a sense of collective existence. In watching the bees, one is confronted with their own behaviors, patterns, and limitations. The video challenges the viewer to step outside their preconceived notions of identity and control, much like the bees must continually adapt to the ever-changing conditions of their hive.
Variation Games thus offers more than an observation of a bee colony; it becomes a reflection on the nature of collaboration, adaptability, and interconnection. It blurs the lines between art, biology, and technology, proposing that life itself is a game of variation — where the rules are fluid, and the players are deeply interconnected.

‘Womens’ Work is never done’ – Variation Games, mailing for ‘Beehave’ exhibition, Miró Foundation in Barcelona (2018)