Marentus

This book has been published as the end of a process and on the occasion of the presentation of marentus'' thanks to the support of La Place.

marentus’’ was the second action of the marentus series. It took place at L’Automatica printing press in Barcelona as part Anne France’s program at La Place. An optical beehive was settled for 587 days in the hills of Villanueva de Quintanilla surrounded by heather bushes. Ramón Paz used his expertise and kept a close eye on the development of the optical beehive. This artefact recorded the traces of the bees’ life over almost two years on a long silver plate. Empty of bees and filled only with honey and wax, the wooden box traveled to L’Automatica, an old press in Barcelona. The optical beehive, then situated inside the printing press among reproduction machines, was ingested in a collective action by a group of almost 60 people. In this dramatic setting of copy and reproduction, the camera was eaten to release the silver plate obstructed behind the honey and wax – at the same time leaving behind a reproduction of their own mouths imprinted on the wax.