Planetary vitaminization. Fruit expansion from Fallen Fruit

/ Urbanism /
Surely you have seen a bright selfie from Palermo on Insta or FB against the background of "fruit" walls. Did you know that this is one of the manifestations of the new urban Fallen Fruit movement, the goal of which is to turn the streets of our cities not just into flowering, but also fruit-bearing gardens?

The art group Fallen Fruit was founded in the early 2000s by three artists from Los Angeles: David Burns, Mathias Vigener and Austin Young. They used the image of a public urban orchard as a key idea, the fruits of which can be used by everyone, and initiated a number of cultural and urban projects under the motto Share your Fruit!

David Burns and Austin Young are the founders of the Fallen Fruit movement

Ornaments designed by Fallen Fruit. Image source: fallenfruit.org

In 2013, Matias left the group, and David and Austin managed to turn Fallen Fruit into a world movement.

Fruit activists were extremely upset by the fact that the citrus groves that once surrounded Los Angeles disappeared during the period of massive construction. By organizing exhibitions, art installations and festivals, Fallen Fruit called on citizens to participate in planting fruit trees on city streets, in parks and squares - where they will be available to everyone.

Austin Young takes care of young trees in Del Air Park, Los Angeles. Image source: Michal Czerwonka for The New York Times

As an alternative to new plantings, the grafting of fruit seedlings onto decorative trees, for example, decorative apple trees will be no worse if edible fruits ripen on one of the branches. Or the owners of front gardens can plant a garden tree near the fence so that its branches hang down onto the street.

Fallen Fruit has developed dozens of "fruit maps", putting the coordinates of available fruit trees on the maps of different cities of the world.

"Fruit map" of Venice developed by Fallen Fruit. Image source: fallenfruit.org

Fruits are a universal gift to mankind, and the "fruit question" is always political - David Burns and Austin Young believe.

Creators from the OMA studio, who supervise the Manifesta Biennale, were also impressed by the ideas of fruit accessibility. Manifesta is a European nomadic biennale of contemporary art and culture, founded in 1993 by the art historian Hedvig Fijen, who still directs it today. The mobile cultural platform travels around European cities and was held in seaside Palermo this summer. The theme "Planetary Garden" presented by Fallen Fruit became the main theme for Manifesta.

Ornaments designed by Fallen Fruit. Image source: fallenfruit.org

David and Austin closely connect their idefix with such current phenomena as migration and globalization. "Fruits, like culture, move around the world with territorial expansion, transnational trade and human migration. Seeds are carried by the wind, in the lining of clothes or in cargo, unintentionally. For the port city of Palermo, all these phenomena are one whole," says Fallen Fruit.

The Italian architect Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, a partner in the Rotterdam office of OMA and one of the four creative mediators who developed the theme of the "Planetary Garden", invited Jelila Atika, a Nigerian artist and sculptor, who organized a spectacular march, and the London duo Cooking Sections, who arranged a row, to participate in Manifesta experiments on creating a microclimate for young garden trees in the historical Sicilian garden Giardino dei Giusti.

Festival of the Earth is a march organized by Jelili Atiku at the Biennale Manifesta in Palermo

Festival of the Earth - an installation by Jelili Atiku at the Biennale Manifesta in Palermo. Image source: m12.manifesta.org

Installation by Cooking Sections within the Biennale Manifesta in Palermo. Image source: m12.manifesta.org

And Fallen Fruit transformed the interior of the ancient Sicilian Palazzo Butera with the help of the immersive installation "Theatre of the Sun". Covering the walls of the halls with wallpaper with a bright fruit pattern, they turned the space into a popular selfie point, photos from which flooded Instagram.

Installation "Theatre of the Sun" by Fallen Fruit in Palazzo Butera. Image source: m12.manifesta.org

Installation "Theatre of the Sun" by Fallen Fruit in Palazzo Butera. Image source: m12.manifesta.org

The decoration of the walls with fruit ornaments and frescoes depicting gardens is characteristic of ancient culture (frescoes of the "fruit room" Villa Livia - XNUMXst century BC) and Renaissance culture.

Fresco "Fruit Room" Villa Livia

EMPIRE exhibition at the Newcomb Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Fallen Fruit wallpaper is used in the design of the exposition

Fallen Fruit are confident that the XXI century is the time to bring back the fashion for fruit ornaments in interiors. At least to motivate people to create living orchards.