Lost Wax : Video Art by Diambe

Written by Joas Nebe.

Diambe, from São Paulo, Brazil, presents at Kunsthalle Basel. Diambe explores the dynamics of collectives (like a swarm of bees), the resistances which arises from human interventions, and their controllability. All three aspects come together in his video work Cera perdida (Lost wax), 2025, presented in Basel. A swarm of bees is exposed to a wax cast made from various tropical and non-tropical fruits and their remnants over several hours. The work Cera Perdida was created during an artist residency at Lake Geneva (La Becque Residence d'Artiste), a residency supporting artists integrating nature, technology, and current political themes.

Cera Perdida showcases the lost form, features a top-down view of a sculpted piece made from beeswax by the artist, placed at the edge of Lake Geneva on the residency grounds, exposed to both sunlight and natural influences, in this case, bees. Diambe, an urban dweller who has his studio on the 12th floor of a skyscraper in São Paulo, presents a piece created from a beeswax cast of a composition made from various fruits, such as cobs of corn, coconut shells, etc.

With tall grass and sunlight, a luminosity on the beeswax interactive installation from above initially, then from the side after some time. Bees come to it, nibbling at the sugary coating of the installation, carrying parts away, causing the stability of the structure to become increasingly precarious until it ultimately collapses. The installation becomes subjected to the measurements of the bees.

These materials are made from a substance which, more than just fleeting, deteriorates under even the slightest temperature fluctuations. An end of the grand spectacle. The end of the dictator, the emperor, the president.

What remains is the collaboration of the collective devoid of political judgment, the cooperation known to us from the natural sciences, which explain the interrelations and cycles of nature. The swarm of bees and rays of sunlight causes the installation to melt away. What ultimately remains is a testament to these very physical, natural processes to which we, as humans, are also subjected.

Photo credit:

Courtesy Dianne, Simoes de Assis, Sao Paulo, BR, Kunsthalle Basel.