I had been embedded in the Decidim.Barcelona office and community for a month (July 2018), video-recording office and community life, as well as carrying out interviews.

When I left Barcelona to return home, I found ‘the sound of the hive’ of the Decidim community clearly ringing in my ears. Like the imprint remaining on your retina when you close your eyes after staring at an image for a long time. So, I knew I had to follow and capture that, and started experimenting with the material recorded during fieldwork in order to transmit the sound and energy still ringing in my mind.

This short experimental piece on The Sound of the Hive [El Sonido de la Colmena] was the result. As the medium is video (both audio and visual), whilst the editing process was led by the sounds, I simultaenously ended up exploring what the hive looks like at the same time. For me, editing video material is a kind of testing process whereby I can experiment with different formulas, sequences and combinations, and test what is required in order to construct and transmit a certain message, idea, energy, vision, impact.

The Sound of the Hive became the basis for a longer documentary (ish) piece simply entitled La Colmena [The Hive]. La Colmena communicates the face-to-face life and energy of the Decidim office and the wider Decidim community in their hybrid office-public space building. Click here to view La Colmena.