This summer, the art group presented a stunning installation at the ancient Sicilian palazzo during the famous Manifesta Biennial.
The collaboration was conceived by David Burns (an artist), Matias Viegener (a writer and visual artist) and Austin Young (portrait photographer). It is designed to reimagine public interaction with the urban space and the broader community. An ongoing series of narrative photographs and videos which explore various social and political environments has been born of the project.
Image courtesy of manifesta.org/
David and Austin have continued to grow the group’s presence since Matias departed in 2013. The group’s projects include Public Fruit Jams, gatherings which encourage sublime collaboration via the public joining together in communal jam-making, Public Fruit Meditations, and the reindexing of permanent collections at museums using its relationship with fruit as subject. They also created ‘The Endless Orchard’, a program that encourages people to plant fruit trees on sections of their property that border public spaces – along with a message that identifies it as part of the network of sharing.
During this year’s Manifesta Biennal in Palermo, Sicily, the collective presented ‘Theater of the Sun’, an immersive installation at Palazzo Butera. The artwork is an immersive art installation of wallpaper and maps of fruit trees growing in the city, providing abundant edible fruits to all. The maps were available for free use, as the fruit trees become a shared resource.
Image courtesy of manifesta.org
‘Fruit, like culture, moves around the world with territorial expansion, transnational trade, and human migration. Seeds are carried by the winds, in the linings of clothing, or in cargo, inadvertently. Fruit is not only natural, it is also a cultural object, even ‘political’. This is especially evident in the port city of Palermo,’ – the group comments.
Image courtesy of manifesta.org
