For many, the pandemic created an experience of loneliness, alienation, fear, and sadness. In thinking about the aftermath, both globally and personally, Hartsten started to contemplate the importance of joy, exuberance, free expression, and creativity as we attempt to create anew the neighborhoods, cities, and worlds we live in. Because the nature of this task requires us to think/act collectively once again, Hartsten looked to the collective action of bees as a model of the unity needed for this moment in human history. Individuals working together in harmony can create the shapes and patterns that promote life. The hexagons serve as a framing tool and homage to bee colonies; the work is a series of hopeful experiments: determinacy, indeterminacy, creativity, joy, and collective expression. Tires collected as trash from San Diego county make up the hexagonal stage for a musical playground. Buckets of chalk will fill with the hexagonal footprint containing the musical playground to be used freely to decorate the ground in and around the installation, creating a sizable participatory chalk mural. The tires themselves are painted by community members and as a set of questions to consider, meant to create a collaborative environment where new and unexpected patterns emerge from the collective undertaking. #thehoneycombharmonies pop-up installation, which takes place in six different parks, aims to bring members of the community together to work together in harmony, creating the shapes and patterns that promote life.
