SCOIN EXCHANGE
Poster / Czech-German Fruit Tree Grafting Project
WERKLEITZ FESTIVAL, HALLE/SAALE (GER) 2008
A poster provides information about various fruit tree grafting techniques and two interventions in public spaces. In Südpark, Halle / Saale, we graft an apple tree with Czech scions; in Bilka, Czech Republic, we graft a cherry tree with German scions. The project raises the question of whether there is a difference between German and Czech fruit trees. Suppose you look at the cultural history of fruit growing. In that case, you conclude that the "national identity" of a fruit tree goes hand in hand with the setting of political borders. After the Ice Age, various migrations brought cultivated plants, including fruit varieties, to the European latitudes to cultivate them. The varieties, popular with animals and humans due to the beauty and sweetness of their flowers and fruits, multiplied naturally and out of the existential and economic interests of the settling farmers. With the appropriation of goods and the creation of fought-for and appointed territories, the earth's natural space, including the oceans, was conquered entirely. The conquerors gave their lands names as soon as possible and later national identities. Particularly noble and tasty types of fruit were named after cardinals, emperors, barons or princes. This national and, thus, political identification of nature gives the scoin exchange project its significance since only the national borders between the trees make them strangers. This international strangeness is alien to nature. Only those who do not know themselves are strangers.
Publisher: Werkleitz Gesellschaft, Halle/Saale
Year: 2008
Size: DIN A1 (offset print)
Circulation: 850
Available at Werkleitz Festival Angst hat große Augen, Halle / Saale und Baumschulenfest 2011, Späth’schen Baumschule, Berlin
The Unabhängige Bauernstimme and the trade journals Obst & Gemüse and Kraut & Rüben report on the Reisertausch project.
