Sam Van Aken: How one tree grows 40 different kinds of fruit
サム・ヴァン・アーケン: 40種の実をつける1本の樹
Sam Van Aken is a contemporary artist who works beyond traditional modes of art-making, crossing artistic genres and disciplines to develop new perspectives on themes like communication, botany, agriculture, climatology and the ever-increasing impact of technology. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
of apples growing in the United States.
アメリカ国内で栽培されていました
by industrialization of agriculture,
地球温暖化におびやかされています
include the Blood Cling,
ブラッド・クリングという果肉の赤い桃
by Spanish missionaries to the Americas,
Americans for centuries;
何世紀も栽培を続けました
by Chinese immigrants
持ち込んだアプリコット
on the Transcontinental Railroad;
that originated in the Middle East
中東が原産で
French and German immigrants.
もたらしました
were brought here,
ほぼすべてが持ち込まれたものです
is our culture.
私たちの文化が埋め込まれています
and cultivated them,
まさにその人たちが
that they brought them here with them
それらが重要だと考えて
them on and shared them.
分け与えてきたやり方もしかりです
私たちの物語です
to learn about it
『40種の果実の樹』を
entitled the "Tree of 40 Fruit."
そのことを学ぶ機会に恵まれました
varieties of stone fruit.
40種類のいろいろな核果が実ります
nectarines and cherries
ネクタリン、さくらんぼが
throughout the majority of the year,
普通の樹になるように構成してありますが
in pink and white
とりどりの花が咲き
bears a multitude of different fruit.
とても多様な果実をつけます
for purely artistic reasons:
純粋にアートとみなしていました
the reality of the everyday,
変化を与えたいと思ったのです
when people would see this tree
花を咲かせたり
一瞬でも驚かせるためです
through the process of grafting.
接ぎ木という方法で作りました
in winter, store them,
保管します
onto the ends of branches in spring.
挿し木を接合させて接ぎ木します
fruit trees are grafted,
接ぎ木されたものです
is a genetic variant of the parent.
遺伝的に多様体になっているのです
that we really like,
is by taking a cutting off of one tree
その樹の一部を切り取って
came from one tree
全部同じ樹をもとに
from generation to generation.
接ぎ木を繰り返してきたものなのです
can't be preserved by seed.
できないということでもあります
as long as I can remember.
接ぎ木を知っていました
grafting peach orchards
果樹園の桃の接ぎ木を生業としていました
いつも
よく知っていた人だったと言います
a magical or mystical capability.
for the Tree of 40 Fruit
40という数字を選んだ理由は
throughout Western religion
and not the infinite
無限でもないけれど
されていたからです
問題となったのは
varieties of these fruit,
見つからないことでした
that I live in New York state,
かかわらずです
producers of these fruit.
トップ生産地域だったのです
research orchards
古くて由緒ある果樹園が
look like when they were first planted,
最初に植えた時にはこんな姿で
six years later.
こんな姿になりました
of immediate gratification --
得られる活動ではありません
if a graft has succeeded;
わかるまでに1年
to know if it produces fruit;
わかるまでに2~3年
to create just one of the trees.
最大では8年を要します
to the Tree of 40 Fruit
それぞれの品種は
and a slightly different color.
少しずつ異なる色をしています
of when all these blossomed
咲く順の時系列を組み立てていくと
how the tree appears during spring.
造形を設計できます
through September.
続いてアプリコット
in there, somewhere ...
何か1つ忘れたようです
that exists outside of the gallery,
ギャラリーの外に存在するものであり
by way of the art world.
種の保護も兼ねています
these in different locations,
生やしたいと頼まれたときに
historically grown in that area,
歴史的にそこで育てられてきた種の調査です
and graft them to the tree
それを接ぎ木して
of the area where they're located.
農業の歴史を表すようにします
ネットで話題となり
謙虚な気持ちになったりしました
was all of the tattoos that I saw
『40種の果実の樹』の
you do that to your body?"
そんなことをするでしょう
was all of the requests that I received
as a central part within their service.
中核としたいと言われたことです
is "I hope not?"
like the Tree of 40 Fruit?]
作るのと似ている?]
on NPR's "Weekend Edition,"
インタビューを受け
I thought I peaked --
これが絶頂期なのかも
of my career --
なんて考えました
聴いているものです
from the Department of Defense.
Project Administration invited me
innovation and creativity,
議論をすることになりました
shifted to a discussion of food security.
食料安全保障の話題に移りました
is dependent upon our food security.
食料安全保障の上に成り立つのです
varieties of each crop,
モノカルチャー状態となっており
to just one of those varieties,
upon our food supply.
劇的な変化が生じかねません
our food security
by everybody that had a garden
裏庭に何本かの樹を植えている人は誰でも
in their backyard,
育てて
passed down through their family.
of 40 Fruit in one week in August.
1本から 8月の1週間で採れたプラムです
collections of these fruit
アメリカ東部で最大級と
is absolutely terrifying.
戦慄すべき事態です
I didn't know what I had.
何を集めてしまったのか―
of the varieties I had
私の集めた種の多くは
of the industrialization of agriculture.
thousands and thousands of years.
with trying to preserve them,
義務感にとらわれました
before they were torn out
果樹を根こそぎにする前に訪れて
or the trunk section
すなわち幹の部分を保存するようにしました
of flowers and the leaves
作り始め
to preserve the story
その物語を
and letterpress descriptions.
記録することを始めたことです
two buildings in New York City --
間に生えていたこの樹は
味見したのをきっかけに
variety in the 19th century
to modern agriculture.
it needs to be told.
これはきちんと語るべきだと思いました
of being able to touch,
味わうことのできる経験を
誰もが手に取れるように
available to the public,
in the highest density of people
できるだけ 人口密度が高い場所に
of land in New York City --
平方メートル)の土地を探し始めました
seemed, like, rather ambitious,
かなり野心的と言えることです
was returning my phone calls or emails --
返信してくれなかった理由かもしれません
I heard back from Governors Island.
ガバナーズ島から 返事をもらいました
to the City of New York in 2000.
譲渡された島です
この島の全域を市が開放しました
from New York.
that we're calling the "Open Orchard"
プロジェクトを実行して
in New York for over a century.
復活させようというのです
will be 50 multigrafted trees
and antique fruit varieties.
実らせる予定です
or were historically grown in the region.
かつて栽培されていた品種で
アーリー・ストロベリー種のりんごは
and Third Avenue.
can't be preserved by seed,
like a living gene bank,
これらの果樹の生きた遺伝子バンクとして
機能します
people to participate in conservation
多くの人が 保存にかかわり
and thousands of emails from people,
基本的なことを聞かれました
about "How do you plant a tree?"
of the population
is going to invite people
and to take part in workshops,
ワークショップに参加して
to prune and to harvest a tree;
刈込みと収穫を学んだり
and blossom tours;
花見ツアーに参加もできます
to learn how to use these fruit
この果実を料理に使う方法を教わったり
were grown specifically for.
これらの種は育てられていたのです
site of the orchard,
that compiles all of those recipes.
レシピ本も作れるでしょう
and traits of those fruit,
起源とそれぞれの物語を語るでしょう
I thought I understood agriculture,
「農業はわかったけど
within my own DNA.
働いたようです
closely tied to the culture,
私たちは 食べている物の
ずっと緊密に結びついていました
and the story of our food,
距離が生じました
to this unknown past,
what the future of our food could be.
考えることにもつながることでしょう
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sam Van Aken - ArtistSam Van Aken is a contemporary artist who works beyond traditional modes of art-making, crossing artistic genres and disciplines to develop new perspectives on themes like communication, botany, agriculture, climatology and the ever-increasing impact of technology.
Why you should listen
Sam Van Aken’s interventions in the natural and public realm are seen as metaphors that serve as the basis of narrative, sites of place making and, in some cases, even become the basis of scientific research.
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Van Aken received his undergraduate education in art and communication theory. Immediately following his studies, he lived in Poland and worked with dissident artists under the former communist regime through the auspices of the Andy Warhol Foundation and the United States Information Agency. Van Aken received his MFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and since then his work has been exhibited and placed nationally and internationally. He has received numerous honors including a Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, Association of International Curator's of Art Award and a Creative Capital Grant. Most recently, his work has been presented as part of Nature-Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial with the Cube Design Museum, Netherlands. Van Aken lives and works in Syracuse, New York, where he is currently an associate professor in the School of Art at Syracuse University. Van Aken's work is represented by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts.
Sam Van Aken | Speaker | TED.com