Fallenfruit, Art Murmur gallery

fallenfruit

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Fallenfruit is a conceptual art collective founded in 2004 by three Los Angeles artists - David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young. It is an ongoing community activist art project aiming to locate and map all public fruit in Los Angeles, which are fruit trees and shrubs growing on or over public land and walkways. It was originally created as an art submission for The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, which put forth a call for work that approached political and social issues with one important imperative – the work presented had to address the issues in a positive, non-critical manner. Working within these parameters, the three began to devise constructive solutions for the pervasive social and political woe of urban alienation: citizens estranged from neighbors and neighborhood, and city dwellers experiencing disconnect between themselves and where their food is grown, geographically and psychologically. Fallenfruit’s interest is in bridging these divides and inspiring citizens to re-evaluate the purpose of urban neighborhoods, and to consider ways to change the dynamic of our cities and common values.

The project has expanded from its humble beginnings of mapping fruit trees in the artists’ neighborhood, to the planning of fruit parks in under-utilized areas. In addition, Fallenfruit encourages locals to plant, harvest and sample public fruit. Further, the group actively persuades residents to contribute their own knowledge and maps to increase the scope of the project to cover areas outside Los Angeles, and eventually beyond the United States.

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