Custom made fabric wall covering, carpet, and adapted found objects.
Our new artwork! The Way Out West, 2023, a multimedia installation, including custom wall covering, carpet runner, and found objects. This permanent artwork was created for 21C St Louis.
The Way Out West, 2023
David Allen Burns and Austin Young / Fallen Fruit
Created for 21c Museum Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, The Way Out West, is an immersive artwork installation for the historicpublic stairwell that connects the public spaces and art galleries. The artwork is sourced from hundreds of original photographs taken by the artists around the city at different times of year. The images are an index of the history of St. Louis including flowers and plants from the public parks, images from artifacts from historic collections, as well as drawings of birds and pollinators native to the region. The title of the artwork ‘The Way Out West’ invokes a message about how the history of the United States was built upon a proclamation of sovereignty and in our current moment of cultural evolution we find ourselves on a clandestine journey to redefine legal frameworks, complex legacies, civil rights, concepts of inclusion, political representations, and to harmonize the voices of all of the people.
Special thanks to Bellefontaine Cemetery, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Campbell House Museum, George B. Vashon Museum of African American History, The Griot Museum of Black History, Missouri Botanical Garden, National Building Arts Center, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Central Library, St. Louis City Parks, St. Louis Mercantile Library, and the people of St. Louis for inspiring this artwork.
LA-based collective Fallen Fruit envisions cities as communal gardens- by Daria Kravchuk, Stir World
“I think that with a great work of art, one of the things that is required for that artwork to have is the amount of power to create the space and accommodate not just one person or one way of thinking like the academic frame of art.” – David Burns
“I think an important part of what makes the work that we do resonate with people is that we are doing very tangible things, whether it is working with fruit trees, public space and parks. But then we also work on more formal gallery and museum projects that are extremely visual and intellectual. I think it’s a combination of these qualities that allows for success to take place. We enjoy play and participation. So when we make a work of art, we are not just making something to be put inside a picture frame and then put on the wall and allow it to be described by a text. That’s fine, but that’s not actually where our heart is.”
The latest version of Endless Orchard is being installed at Redlands University at the student run SURF program. The SURF program is the campus farm that is completely directed by student interest and at the property they grow organic food, fruits and vegetables. The fruit trees we planted are in an area that is accessible to the public.
With support from the Muriel Pollia Foundation, Fallen Fruit is able to install a public orchard and edible pollinator garden at the Redlands University farm property. Part of the campus at the University and also integrated into a working class neighborhood, this public orchard and edible garden is available year-round for harvesting organic herbs, edible flowers, California natives, and fruit! Everyone is able to harvest at any time! It is in the public right of way and University of Redlands is excited and 100% supportive of this collaborative project.
We have completed phase two of the project installing 13 fruit trees at the site this past May, 2023. We have planted apricots, plums, blackberries, apples, pomegranate, persimmon, peaches, cherries, and more. In Fall of 2023 we will add in an edible perennial California natives garden that will focus on indigenous culture and the history of California.
The project is also a companion to coursework for the University and was installed with students. It is part of the undergraduate series about California history and indigenous cultures.
We are so proud and excited to be a partner with University of Redlands and the student run farm for the campus.
Fallen Fruit, artists David Allen Burns and Austin Young, has been commissioned to create a large-scale public work of art entitled Monument to Sharing. This living installation is the first element of a multi-phased Museum expansion scheduled for completion in early 2025.
Monument to Sharing involves planting approximately twenty-one fruit-bearing trees, a berry patch and a series of edible pollinators that the public is welcome to “harvest,” inviting guests to explore ideas of generosity, agricultural production and the meaning behind “community.”
According to the artists, pieces of “fallen fruit” can connect us in interesting ways: “We believe everyone is a collaborator in making something special – even the stranger or passerby. We believe that ‘artwork’ has a ‘resonant effect.’ Fruit is a universal gift to humanity and fruit is always political.” Both interactive and collaborative, Monument to Sharing is a unique expression of local history—especially the region’s agricultural heritage. The artists encourage guests to gently pick the fruit they need, while leaving enough to share with others.
Fallen Fruit was originally conceived in 2004 by Matias Viegener, Burns and Young. Since 2013, Burns and Young have continued the collaborative work. The collective began creating interactive installations for a project in Los Angeles for which they created maps of what the artists called “public fruit,” or fruit trees that grew over public property. The artists use cartography and geography to create serialized and site-specific works that embrace public participation. These include photographic portraits, experimental documentary videos, public art installation, exhibition projects and a community-contributed magazine specific to the installation. Using fruit — and public spaces — as a method of exploring the familiar, the collective Fallen Fruit encourages all of us to change the way we see the world.
Other public fruit parks include The Endless Orchard, UB Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Weinland Park Berry Patch and South Side Fruit Park, Wexner Center, Columbus, OH; and Monument to Sharing, Los Angeles Historic Park. Los Angeles, CA. Installations include Paradise, Portland Art Museum, Portland. OR; CRAZY, Chiostro Del Bramante, Rome, Italy; Empire, Newcomb Art Museum, New Orleans, LA; Teatro del Sole (Theater of the Sun), Manifesta 12 Biennale, Polermo, Sicily, Italy; and Fruits from the Garden and Field, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England.
Curator
Apsara Diquinzio
Lead Sponsor
Roswitha Kima Smale, PhD
Sponsor
Carole Anderson
Julie and Michael Teel | Raley’s
Supporting Sponsors
Kathie Bartlett
Nancy and Alan Maiss
Pat and Marshall Postman
Victoria Zoellner
The Fondazione di Comunità San Gennaro– of which Feudi has been a founding partner since 2014 –is committed to surmounting problems linked to youth in disadvantaged urban areas through the enhancement of the historical-artistic heritage and human capital of one of Naples’ districts, Rione Sanità. As part of this commitment, since 2014 Feudi has involved well-known contemporary artists in the creation of site-specific works, reproduced on limited-edition labels, all the proceeds of which go towards funding the Foundation’s projects.
Thursday, April 6 at 5pm – Pop up at First Thursday – Fallen Fruit Magazine!
Saturday, April 8 at Second Saturday. 10 am – 12 pm- Lemonade stand!
Thursday, April 6 at 4 pm. Artist Talk! –CULTIVATING COMMUNITY WITH FALLEN FRUIT
Artists David Allen Burns and Austin Young, the collaborative duo behind the artworks of Fallen Fruit, present a survey of projects that explore material, meaning, and geographical knowledge. Currently they are installing a community garden at the Nevada Museum of Art called “Monument to Sharing.” The artists consider “the public realm” as their primary artistic medium, and the artworks of Fallen Fruit investigates collaborative communities and the boundaries of public spaces through mapping fruit trees in urban areas and interrogating historical public archives. Fallen Fruit has exhibited internationally, including notable projects for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Gallery Victoria in Melbourne, Chiostro del Bramante in Rome, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, amongst others. Join us in a conversation with the artists as we explore ways in which the community can inform ideas of place and a sense of connectedness in our capacity to share the world with others.
Thursday, April 6 at 5pm – – Pop up at First Thursday Fallen Fruit Magazine
Make a collaborative magazine about the Great Basin with artists David Burns and Austin Young of Fallen Fruit using collage making and storytelling. Everyone is welcome!
Saturday April 8- Lemonade stand!
“Lemonade Stand”, a public participatory artwork by Fallen Fruit explores ideas of temporary community and new forms of public. In exchange for a cold glass of organic lemonade, participants are asked to create self-portraits using black ink markers on lemons and to share stories of sadness and disappointment, or happiness and positive self-reflection.
The lemon self-portraits will collectively form a group portrait of everyone who participated, illustrating some of the archetypes that construct community. Additionally, as participants are asked to record stories about neighborhood and family, the Lemonade Stand will activate the phrase… “when life gives you lemons…”
a participatory project by Fallen Fruit / David Allen Burns and Austin Young,
Instructions (read Carefully)
Hold the banana.
Close Your eyes.
Center yourself.
As you connect with the banana allow a question,
a childhood memory, personal story, dream,
feeling, wish or request to come to mind.
Take a deep breath and press record.
Banana Hotline will translate our voices
into a living monument of sound.
ps. If you ask the banana a question,
your answer will come by morning.
Be prepared with pen and paper
and share your answers.
send us a link to your sound or video files or mail to [email protected]
originally commissioned by Ted Active, 2013, Read about our project at TED Active 2013
Recipes to Nourish Communities and Panel Talk March 5th!
We are one of the subjects of multimedia artist Taiji Terasaki latest projects, “Recipes to Nourish Communities.” Terasaki highlights the importance of nourishing the local Los Angeles community with his new Mural.
Join us for a panel discussion on March 5th at 2pm! Famed art critic Shana Nys Dambrot will lead a discussion with mural participants Ron Finley, Artists David Allen Burns and Austin Young of Fallen Fruit, and representatives from the LA Mission and Alma Farms. With the mural and its AR component this 2023 debut ignites an important conversation complete with actionable ways to contribute to a more sustainable and sustenance-filled Los Angeles. RSVP: HERE
The mural , executed on aluminum panels and mounted to the exterior of the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles’ (@themcla) space at 260 S. Main St., is a large collage of images that elevate the profile of four organizations/artists committed to providing access to fresh and nutritious ingredients in their corners of LA. People / organizations highlighted are Ron Finley, Alma Backyard Farms, The La Mission and Fallen Fruit. The mural by artist Taiji Terasaki incorporates augmented reality to enhance the story of our organizations. On-view beginning February 15th, 2023
Acknowledging that food systems and the environment are intrinsically connected, with modern-day modes of consumption having a profound effect on climate change, Terasaki reconsiders how society can balance culinary habits with the natural world. Food as a means to create positive change has long been a captivating idea for the Honolulu-based artist.
The mural by artist Taiji Terasaki incorporates augmented reality to enhance the story of our organizations. On-view beginning February 15th, 2023