The Spirit of the Hive
Queen Bees, Drones and the Working Class. Social Utopias and Gendered Projections from Maeterlinck to Cyberculture
L'Esprit de la Ruche.
Reines, faux-bourdons et la classe ouvrière. De Maeterlinck à Cyberculture

Lecture in the framework of "time:festivals", Ghent, 20. - 27. 04. 2007
Nieuwpoorttheater Ghent, 26. 04. 2007

At first sight, mutual ties between insects and humans seem rather sparse. Figuratively spoken, the tree of biological evolution spread its branches considerably far to separate the four-legged mammal from the egg-born creature with its six-legged and chitin-armoured body. Hence no wonder that when it comes to insects, human perspective may distinguish pest from a more or less useful rest - however, in more general terms insects are perceived as strange and alien "others", either fascinating or abject, and perhaps both at the same time.

Yet probably for this very reason we find insects also as favourite subject for a whole range of cultural fantasies, phantasms and projections, their role varying related to changing historical, ethnical, political and aesthetic interests configuring the latter.
In this context, so called "politcal" or eusocial insects - bees, ants and termites; hence: the insects Maurice Maeterlinck devoted his widely read books - have held a prominent position from early on; be it as mirror, as exemplar or - in fact rather more lately - as horrific antipodes.

The lecture will explore this field by taking a closer look especially onto the phantasmatic obsession with bees in cultural history, science, literature and visual arts from 19th century to present; from symbolism's taste for amalgamizations of natural science, philosophical speculation, social utopia and esotericism over 20th century Cold War political fantasies, science fiction and cybernetics to contemporary A.I. (artficial intelligence) and nano science speculations with its special taste for hive mind intelligence and swarm organization.