Queen Bee

Queen Bee is an analysis of the effects of war. By recreating an enjoyable and seemingly light-hearted environment, the public can enjoy their time participating in the event and through this easy interaction with the piece they are given easy access to the essence of the work — the horrific aftermath of war.

The Queen Bee project started in 2004 with Snake Bar & Tea Room in Roger Smith Gallery, New York. Since then it has been developed in several locations around the world, encompassing stand-alone paintings, drawings, sculptures, and immersive soundscapes.

The Story: My friend Miss Mai told me how she came to live in Saigon. She was born and grew up in Hanoi during the war and I guess that her father was an important Communist at that time. In April 1975, when the Communists took over South Vietnam, the Americans and many people that had worked with them left Vietnam. Important people from the North came to take over the running of the South and when they came to Saigon they needed somewhere to live.

So the rule at that time, was to find one of the many houses abandoned by those that had fled the city, and move in, taking it as their own. The space that Miss Mai's family found was an abandoned Snake Bar on Dong Khoi Street (called Tu Do Street pre 1975). A Snake Bar was the Saigon name for a bar where US Soldiers went to look for Vietnamese women.

Miss Mai said that, although at that time she was only a few years old, she still vividly remembers the eerie feeling when she first entered the bar. The neon bar light and the fairy lights were still lit. The drink bottles were still there and everything was as it had been left on the last night of "business" there—everything, but the people.

In this exhibition, I recreated this Saigon Snake Bar. We held 3 opening nights when the bar was active and running, and after these nights, the bar sat empty of people for a week, leaving only the remains of what was left behind from the nights' revelry.

First shown as a project at Art Basel Miami Beach 2007, this iteration brings the viewer directly in contact with the historical weight of war. Re-contextualized within the Remnants Museum frame, the Queen Bee project becomes a records archive, featuring sound, installation elements, and painting.

• Patrick Watson Website Artist Site
• Romper Room Performance Log YouTube