A huge new art installation looks set to have Kew Gardens humming. Miri Quinn meets Wolfgang Buttress, acclaimed British designer of The Hive
Credit: Hufton+Crow
Entering Kew Gardens by Victoria Gate, I sense an air of anticipation. Streams of people are heading straight for the Princess of Wales Conservatory where the titan arum, a gigantic pungent plant that flowers only once in a while, is now in full bloom. These visitors know that they need to be quick: flowerings only last for a few days and the last one was seven years ago.
But let us leave them to it. For today my rendezvous is with an even rarer species: an artist and designer with a prestigious Gold Award from last year’s World Expo in Milan. Wolfgang Buttress is his name, The Hive his extraordinary, award-winning creation. Now, and for at least the next 18 months, this same breathtaking installation is to enjoy a deserved, protracted encore at Kew.
Tall and striking, with a big, bushy beard and fingers bedecked with numerous oversized rings, Wolfgang was born in Birmingham to a German mother and an English father. There he was brought up on a large council estate until the family moved to Cumbria when he was 11 years old. The contrast in environments left Wolfgang with a connection to the city, yet imbued with a love and respect for nature.
“Moving from the city to the countryside was a real revelation and it kind of formed me in so many ways,” he reflects.
His father, a probation officer, was blessed with a real passion for culture.
“The house was always full of music and books, and my father loved to write poetry and short stories in his spare time.”
It was his secondary school art teacher who first suggested to Wolfgang that he should go on to art college.
“I wasn’t really sure what that meant, but I just knew that I loved art. Up there, at that time, people assumed that you would become a farmer, work in a factory or join the Army. Well, none of those really appealed to me,” he laughs.
With his parents’ encouragement, he completed a degree in fine art at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham – thus becoming the first generation in his family to go on to further education – and decided to settle in the city.
“I was primarily a painter, but I started getting frustrated, as I really wanted to make things,” he explains. “So I became the artist-in-residence at the engineering college in Nottingham and it was there that I learnt all about structure and how to weld and braze.”
Following his residency, Wolfgang set up his studio, again in Nottingham.
“At first, I was making all my pieces entirely on my own, using whatever I could get in through the garage doors. As the commissions became both physically and financially bigger though, I realised that I needed factories to help me.”
It was, says Wolfgang, a slow, gradual journey to becoming a successful artist. In 2011, however, the pace began to accelerate with the installation of Rise, his stunning spherical metal sculpture in Belfast.
“After that I did a piece for the Australian National University in Canberra called Una, in which 9,100 stars were mapped out and cut as perforations into a reflective steel sphere. It was my first major project with a scientist – an amazing astrophysicist called Dr Daniel Bayliss – and it really opened my eyes. I used to think science and art were two completely different disciplines, but this made me realise that there are so many parallels.”
And then, two years ago, came Wolfgang’s biggest break: the opportunity, as part of a competition, to submit a proposal for the UK Pavilion at Expo 2015.
“I was a bit sceptical at first, as I’m not an architect or an engineer – I’m still primarily an artist. But then my wife, Joy, asked me what I would do if I did enter, so I came up with this idea of taking a section of the British countryside and transplanting it to Milan. It really just grew from there.
“The theme was ‘Feeding the Planet’, and the plight of the honey bee seemed like such a powerful symbol to use. This insect is responsible for nearly 30% of the food that we eat.”
At Nottingham Trent, Wolfgang was introduced to Dr Martin Bencsik, who was carrying out extensive research into the way bees communicate with each other.
“He was putting accelerometers into beehives to measure vibrations, so that he could tell exactly what was happening at any given moment. I had the idea of sending this data over in real time from a hive in Nottingham to a sculpture in Milan and putting the visitor at the centre of the installation.”
The vision struck an instant chord: Wolfgang and his team won the competition and, in May 2015, The Hive took its place as the UK pavilion in Milan. Made of fine steel lattice, the sculpture itself was based on the design of a honeycomb, while inside were 1000 LED lights reacting to signals from a beehive in Nottingham. Sound also played a crucial part: Wolfgang gathered together a group of musicians that included his own teenage daughter, a talented singer, and Dr Bencsik’s wife, a classically trained cellist.
“We worked out that bees hum in the key of C, so we recorded a whole series of musical stems inspired by the sound they make.”
The team then devised a system that triggered different music according to what was happening in the hive.
“In this way, it was the energy of the bees that dictated the sounds. In a sense, the bees were actually playing the music,” explains Wolfgang.
Credit: Mark Hadden
With its brilliant design and multi-sensory experience, The Hive set the Expo buzzing. As a result, the UK Pavilion won the prestigious BIE Gold Award for Architecture and Landscape.
“In fact, we’re still winning awards for it today,” says Wolfgang proudly. “I think we are up to 19 at the moment.”
Now the magic of Milan is reborn on the banks of the Thames. Following the success of The Hive at the Expo, the Royal Botanic Gardens determined to bring it to Kew, where it will stand for the next two summers.
Over the past six months, 170,000 individual pieces have been carefully reconstructed. At 17 metres high, the installation towers above visitors, who are drawn in via a lush and vibrant wildflower meadow like bees returning to the hive. Inside thousands of flickering LED lights bring the 40-tonne lattice structure to life, along with the orchestral arrangement imitating the humming of bees. Triggered by activity in a living hive nearby, the sound and light intensity within the space alters as the energy levels in the real hive fluctuate, giving visitors a unique insight into the life of a bee colony.
“It was always our intention for The Hive to make a second appearance and Kew is just a perfect fit. It feels like it belongs here – almost as if it’s come home. I am so pleased that people from the UK will be able to see it.”
Success brings its own momentum and Wolfgang now spends a lot of time on the road – he currently has projects in Kansas City and Taiwan, while Japan looms large on the radar of his future plans.
“It’s an amazing country, the way they see and feel nature,” he reflects.
Nottingham, however, remains home, and it is here that he lives with Joy and their two teenage children. He now has six people in the studio while Joy, also an artist, works alongside him.
“She is fundamental to the whole operation,” he stresses. “It’s a multi-layered process.”
And his ultimate dream?
Wolfgang Buttress
“It would be great to have a piece somewhere where the actual journey to the place is part of the artwork. That would be amazing. It could be anywhere, really – maybe the desert or the mountains – but the challenge would be to let it exist without destroying the surrounding context.”
A dream for another day. For now though, the far horizons yield to the home front: for the residents of Richmond borough, The Hive is just a bus ride away. Others may have further to travel, but the rewards will be great. What, then, are Wolfgang’s hopes for these visitors from far and near?
“I really want them to find an emotional connection,” he reflects. “And, if they come away understanding more about the importance of the honey bee, that for me will be a truly great thing.”
For further information visit kew.org
You can see more of Wolfgang's work on his website by clicking here
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