More than 100 people turned out at the FORUM last night for Kaletia Roberts over-the- top performance. The evening began like any art opening, with gallery-goers greeting one another and admiring the really beautiful craftsmanship of her ceramic work. But soon the buzz of art aficionados was drowned out by the buzz of bees, pumping through speakers from the four corners of the gallery. Two androgynous “drones” wandered out from behind a black curtain as if sleepwalking. They began harvesting honey from pods hanging from the ceiling using small craft knives that were attached with Velcro to their costumes. This continued for several minutes as the buzzing got louder and louder until finally, the queen bee burst out from behind a black curtain. Towering eight or nine feet above the crowd on stilts, Roberts moved and swayed to the droning of the bees in a confusing, intimate and sometimes overtly sexual dance with her two drones. She dipped into large ceramic cones on the gallery wall, first using a scepter made of beeswax and then using her bare hands, splashing honey against the floor and the walls with a loud slap. The climax of the performance came when Roberts grabbed one of the large ceramic cones filled with milk, turned it over upon herself and than smashed it into pieces on the gallery floor. She collapsed in a heap amidst the broken pieces. Her drones came to her, removing her stilts, covering her in a white sheet, and ushering her out of our sight.

There was nothing small about Robert’s performance, and while at certain points it threatened to be over-dramatic (think 70’s glam rock), it captivated the audience from beginning to sticky-messy-sexy end. Praise to FORUM and to Roberts herself for taking it on.

Click here to read Kerry Doyle's feature story on this event.