This apple collection was created towards the end of the year 2014.
In a year when governments approved the use of human stem cells to create human porcine chimeras, and other governments are just about to approve the first genetically modified apples to hit the market. A period when the apple genome is fully deciphered and scientists in labs are working on creating new apple strains, and at the same time, thousands of tons of apples were left on the ground, just because they do not meet the aesthetic criteria of the supermarkets. An era when the apple’s seeds became an intellectual property of those who bred them and growers must pay annual royalties on every apple. An age, when the growing time of the first apple on a new tree is reduced from 12 years to only 3 years! A time in which to eat an apple, instead of picking one from the tree, we are picking an apple in a vending machine.
The archetype apple tree of the cultivar ‘Fuji’
My personal point of view is that we have been messing around, changing and designing nature on a whim, driven by convenience, without thinking, in a haphazard, carefree way, and have been doing it for a long time. It is obvious that words like orchard, cross-breeding, drafting, esthetics, defects, engineering, fertilization and even irrigation, would not exist in the nature’s vocabulary without a man-made integration. In this manner, man intervened with nature and thus changed the course of creation.
This research began in the supermarket when I found myself looking at fruits, vegetables and people in a new and freshly pure way. From that moment on, the deeper I thought about the relation between the natural and the artificial worlds, it felt clearer. I realized that as a designer, I have the tool set to run with this notion. I used these tools to sharpen my view of the apple as a product.
This project brings forth more questions than answers, and its goal is not to presume answering these questions, merely to allow them to surface, and through them to raise the level of awareness in our lives.
In this day and age, it is difficult to use concepts and terms such as “the right thing to do”, “the more ethical thing to do”, or “the more justified action”. Instead of asking the question – what is the right thing to do? I recommend asking another question – what alternatives do I have to choose from? Along the way, it became more and more evident that the world of the present is complex, and each path we choose might have positive and negative aspects and consequences to it. As we choose our path, we must become aware of the various aspects and then choose one specific path – to walk it all the way, to stand on the side, or perhaps, walk against it.
The future is as confusing and mysterious as it has always been, however, in my opinion, even though we cannot stop progress, and of course, we cannot stop nature – we could direct our lives to take other courses, with more awareness and consciousness in mind.
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