Zito Collaboration

 

Joseph Zito – Plus Ten
Lennon & Weinberg Gallery, New York City

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This collaborative exhibition originated from sculptor Joseph Zito’s investigation of Reverend Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth’s 1851 beehive design — a structure that transformed modern apiculture through its modular, social architecture. Reflecting the collective nature of bee colonies, Zito invited ten artists to intervene on individually constructed clear-pine hives, shifting his typically solitary studio practice toward shared authorship.

Each artist responded independently, transforming the hive into a site of interpretation, symbolism, and ecological reflection.

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My contribution, Colorless & Odorless, examines the invisible role of carbon dioxide in the global decline of honeybee populations. The work responds to research indicating that rising atmospheric CO₂ levels reduce protein content in pollen, weakening a primary food source essential to bee reproduction and colony stability.

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Rather than illustrating scientific data directly, the piece considers absence — an environmental threat that cannot be seen or smelled, yet profoundly alters ecological balance. The hive becomes both object and metaphor: a structure of cooperation rendered vulnerable by atmospheric change.

Bees, responsible for pollinating a significant portion of global food systems, stand here as indicators of a fragile interdependence between human activity and natural survival.

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Process & Installation​

(Photographs shown below document the collaborative process and installation of the exhibition.)