100 years ago, there were 2,000 varieties of peaches, nearly 2,000 different varieties of plums and almost 800 named varieties of apples growing in the United States. Today, only a fraction of those remain, and what is left is threatened by industrialization of agriculture, disease and climate change.
100 年前, 在美国有着 2000 多种桃子, 将近 2000 种不同的李子, 以及将近 800 种可以叫出名字的苹果。 如今,只剩下了其中一小部分, 而剩下的也受着农业的工业化、 疾病和气候变化的威胁。
Those varieties that are threatened include the Blood Cling, a red-flesh peach brought by Spanish missionaries to the Americas, then cultivated by Native Americans for centuries; an apricot that was brought by Chinese immigrants who came to work on the Transcontinental Railroad; and countless varieties of plums that originated in the Middle East and were then brought by Italian, French and German immigrants. None of these varieties are indigenous. In fact, almost all of our fruit trees were brought here, including apples and peaches and cherries. So more than just food, embedded within these fruit is our culture. It's the people who cared for and cultivated them, who valued them so much that they brought them here with them as a connection to their home, and it's the way that they've passed them on and shared them. In many ways, these fruit are our story. And I was fortunate enough to learn about it through an artwork that I created entitled the "Tree of 40 Fruit."
受到威胁的品种包括血桃, 一种由西班牙传教士带到美国、 然后被印第安人培育了 数个世纪的血红色桃子; 杏子,由建设美国横贯大陆铁路的 中国移民带来; 以及数不清的原产于中东, 然后被意大利、法国和 德国移民带来的李子。 这些品种中没有一个产于当地。 事实上,我们的大部分 果树种类都是外来物种, 包括苹果、桃子和樱桃。 所以这些水果不仅仅是食物, 它们还包含着我们的文化。 人们关爱、培育并且珍视这些水果 才把它们一起带来, 作为和家乡的联系, 这些水果得以代代相传,为人分享。 从许多角度来看, 这些水果就是我们的故事。 我非常幸运,通过我创作的 名为“四十果树”的艺术品 学习到了这些。
The Tree of 40 Fruit is a single tree that grows 40 different varieties of stone fruit. So that's peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines and cherries all growing on one tree. It's designed to be a normal-looking tree throughout the majority of the year, until spring, when it blossoms in pink and white and then in summer, bears a multitude of different fruit. I began the project for purely artistic reasons: I wanted to change the reality of the everyday, and to be honest, create this startling moment when people would see this tree blossom in all these different colors and bear all of these different fruit.
“四十果树”是一棵 长着四十种不同核果的树。 桃子、李子、杏子、 油桃、樱桃, 都长在一棵树上。 它被设计成在一年的多数时间里, 看上去是一棵正常的树, 直到春天,它会开出 粉色和白色的花朵, 而到夏天,它会结出多种不同的果实。 我因纯粹的艺术缘由 开始了这个项目: 我想要改变日常的现实, 说实话, 就是创造出这个 当人们看到这棵树 开出不同颜色的花, 长出不同果实的惊奇时刻。
I created the Tree of 40 Fruit through the process of grafting. I'll collect cuttings in winter, store them, and then graft them onto the ends of branches in spring. In fact, almost all fruit trees are grafted, because the seed of a fruit tree is a genetic variant of the parent. So when we find a variety that we really like, the way that we propagate it is by taking a cutting off of one tree and putting it onto another -- which is kind of crazy to think that every single Macintosh apple came from one tree that's been grafted over and over from generation to generation. But it also means that fruit trees can't be preserved by seed. I've known about grafting as long as I can remember. My great-grandfather made a living grafting peach orchards in Southeastern Pennsylvania. And although I never met him, any time anyone would mention his name, they were quick to note that he knew how to graft as if he had a magical or mystical capability.
我通过嫁接的手段创造了“四十果树”。 我在冬天收集插条,保存好, 然后在春天把它们嫁接到枝丫的末端。 事实上,基本所有的果树都是嫁接的, 因为果树的种子会发生基因变异。 所以当我们找到一种 我们十分喜欢的品种时, 我们培育它的方法就是 从树上砍下插条, 再把它嫁接到另一棵树上—— 想象一下每一个麦金塔苹果 都来自同一棵树, 人们代代嫁接, 听起来有些疯狂吧? 这也意味着果树不能由 种子保留下来。 我从记事起就了解到了嫁接。 我的曾祖父靠着嫁接 位于宾州东南部的 桃子果园为生。 尽管我从未见过他, 但是任何时候只要 有人提及他的名字, 人们都会很快的说起, 我的曾祖父知道如何嫁接, 就像有一种魔法般或是神秘的能力。
I decided on the number 40 for the Tree of 40 Fruit because it's found throughout Western religion as not the quantifiable dozen and not the infinite but a number that's beyond counting. It's a bounty or a multitude. But the problem was that when I started, I couldn't find 40 different varieties of these fruit, and this is despite the fact that I live in New York state, which, a century ago, was one of the leading producers of these fruit. So as they were tearing out research orchards and old, vintage orchards, I would collect branches off them and graft them onto trees in my nursery.
我为“四十果树” 定下 40 这个数字, 因为 40 在西方宗教中 被认为是不可量化的, 但也不是无穷的, 而是一个数不清的数字。 它代表很多或是大量。 但问题是,当我开始创作时, 我没法找到 40 种不同的核果, 尽管我居住在纽约州, 在一个世纪前 这里可是生产核果的龙头老大。 所以当人们拆除研究型果园, 以及老旧的果园时, 我就会收集果树的枝干, 并把它们嫁接到 我的苗圃里的树上。
So this is what the Tree of 40 Fruit look like when they were first planted, and this is what they look like six years later. This is definitely not a sport of immediate gratification --
这是“四十果树”刚被种下时的样子, 这是它们六年后的样子。 这肯定不是快速嫁接运动——
(Laughter)
(笑声)
It takes a year to know if a graft has succeeded; it takes two to three years to know if it produces fruit; and it takes up to eight years to create just one of the trees.
想要知道嫁接是否成功, 需要一年的时间; 想要知道嫁接是否结果, 需要两到三年; 而要创作出这样一棵树, 需要长达八年的时间。
Each of the varieties grafted to the Tree of 40 Fruit has a slightly different form and a slightly different color. And I realized that by creating a timeline of when all these blossomed in relationship to each other, I can essentially shape or design how the tree appears during spring. And this is how they appear during summer. They produce fruit from June through September. First is cherries, then apricots, Asian plums, nectarines and peaches, and I think I forgot one in there, somewhere ...
每一种被嫁接到“四十果树”的核果, 都有着稍微不同的形态 和稍微不同的颜色。 我意识到通过记录 所有品种开花时间点之间 相互关系的时间线, 我就可以塑造或设计出 果树在春天的样子。 这是果树在夏天的样子。 果树从六月到九月都在结果。 首先是樱桃,然后是杏子, 亚洲李,油桃和桃子, 我觉得我在哪里忘了一个品种……
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Although it's an artwork that exists outside of the gallery, as the project continues, it's been conservation by way of the art world. As I've been asked to create these in different locations, what I'll do is I'll research varieties that originated or were historically grown in that area, I'll source them locally and graft them to the tree so that it becomes an agricultural history of the area where they're located.
尽管这是一个存在于 美术馆之外的艺术品, 随着项目的继续, 它却被艺术世界 以一种方式保留了下来。 当我被邀请在不同的地点 创造出这些果树时, 我会做的就是研究 那个地区土生土长的 或是历史上生长过的品种, 然后我会在当地寻找这些品种, 并把它们嫁接到树上, 这样这棵果树就变成了 所在地区的农业历史。
And then the project got picked up online, which was horrifying and humbling. The horrifying part was all of the tattoos that I saw of images of the Tree of 40 Fruit.
然后这个项目就在网上传开了, 让我有些惊讶,觉得有点不好意思。 让我感到惊讶的是我看到的那些 “四十果树”的纹身图案。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Which I was like, "Why would you do that to your body?"
我就想,“你为什么要对 你的身体这样做?”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And the humbling part was all of the requests that I received from pastors, from rabbis and priests who asked to use the tree as a central part within their service. And then it became a meme -- and the answer to that question is "I hope not?"
令我有点难为情的 是那些我收到的来自 神父、拉比和牧师的请求, 他们想把这棵树作为 他们宗教礼拜的核心部分。 然后这棵树变成了表情包—— 这个问题的答案是“我希望不是?”
[Is your marriage like the Tree of 40 Fruit?]
【你的婚姻像“四十果树”吗?】
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Like all good memes, this has led to an interview on NPR's "Weekend Edition," and as a college professor, I thought I peaked -- like, that was the pinnacle of my career -- but you never know who's listening to NPR. And several weeks after the NPR interview, I received an email from the Department of Defense. The Defense Advanced Research Project Administration invited me to come talk about innovation and creativity, and it's a conversation that quickly shifted to a discussion of food security. You see, our national security is dependent upon our food security. Now that we've created these monocultures that only grow a few varieties of each crop, if something happens to just one of those varieties, it can have a dramatic impact upon our food supply. And the key to maintaining our food security is preserving our biodiversity. 100 years ago, this was done by everybody that had a garden or a small stand of trees in their backyard, and grew varieties that were passed down through their family.
就像所有风靡起来的表情包作者, 我接受了 NPR 的 “周末特辑”节目的采访, 作为一名大学教授, 我认为这就是—— 算是我事业的顶峰了—— 但你永远也不知道谁会听 NPR。 在 NPR 采访的几周之后, 我收到了一封来自美国国防部的邮件。 国防高级研究计划局邀请我 去进行关于创新和创造力的演讲, 这场对话迅速的转向了 关于食品安全的讨论。 很明显,我们的国家安全 也依赖于我们的食品安全。 考虑到我们走向了单一种植, 只培育每种作物的几个品种, 如果这些品种之一发生了什么事, 则会对我们的食物供给 产生显著的影响。 保证食物安全的关键就是 保护我们的生物多样性。 100 年前,只要有花园或是 在后院中长着几棵树的人 都在做这件事, 他们培育不同品种, 再在家族中代代相传。
These are plums from just one Tree of 40 Fruit in one week in August. Several years into the project, I was told that I have one of the largest collections of these fruit in the Eastern United States, which, as an artist, is absolutely terrifying.
这些是八月的一周里 从一棵“四十果树”上收获的李子。 项目开始后的几年, 我被告知,在美国东部, 我所收集的这些水果的数量最多, 对于一个艺术家来说, 我觉得受宠若惊。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
But in many ways, I didn't know what I had. I discovered that the majority of the varieties I had were heirloom varieties, so those that were grown before 1945, which is seen as the dawn of the industrialization of agriculture. Several of the varieties dated back thousands and thousands of years. And finding out how rare they were, I became obsessed with trying to preserve them, and the vehicle for this became art. I would go into old, vintage orchards before they were torn out and I would save the bowl or the trunk section that possessed the original graft union. I started doing pressings of flowers and the leaves to create herbarium specimens. I started to sequence the DNA. But ultimately, I set out to preserve the story through these copper-plate etchings and letterpress descriptions. To tell the story of the George IV peach, which took root between two buildings in New York City -- someone walks by, tastes it, it becomes a major commercial variety in the 19th century because it tastes just that good. Then all but vanishes, because it doesn't ship well and it doesn't conform to modern agriculture.
但在许多方面, 我并不知道我到底拥有什么。 我发现我培育品种中的大多数 都是原种品种, 也就是在 1945 年之前生长的品种, 那个时间点被看做是 农业工业化的前夕。 有些品种的起源可以 追溯到几千年以前。 了解到它们的稀缺性, 我执着的想要保存它们, 而这个载体就是艺术。 我会在老旧果园被拆毁前造访, 我会收集那些保留了 原始嫁接结构的 树枝或树桩。 我开始压制花朵和树叶 来制作植物标本。 我开始测序 DNA。 但最终,我会用 铜制蚀刻板和凸版印刷描述 来保留这些故事。 我想讲讲乔治四世品种的桃子, 它生长在纽约市的两栋建筑之间—— 人们从旁边走过,品尝, 它成为了 19 世纪 一种主要的商业品种, 因为它的味道太好了。 然后一下子又全部消失了, 因为这种桃子没法运输, 而且也不适应现代农业。
But I realize that as a story, it needs to be told. And in the telling of that story, it has to include the experience of being able to touch, to smell and to taste those varieties. So I set out to create an orchard to make these fruit available to the public, and have the aim of placing them in the highest density of people that I could possibly find. Naturally, I started looking for an acre of land in New York City --
但我意识到, 这种桃子的故事需要有人讲述。 要讲述这个故事, 需要包含能够接触、 闻到以及品尝这些品种的经历。 所以我开始创建果园, 来让这些水果面向大众, 最初目标是把果树种在 我能找到的 人口密度最高的地方。 自然而然,我尝试在纽约市 寻找一英亩土地——
(Laughter)
(笑声)
which, in retrospect, seemed, like, rather ambitious, and probably the reason why nobody was returning my phone calls or emails --
现在想来,这听上去 还蛮有雄心壮志的, 也许也是没人回复我电话 或邮件的原因——
(Laughter)
(笑声)
until eventually, four years later, I heard back from Governors Island.
直到四年之后, 我收到了总督岛的回复。
So Governors Island is a former naval base that was given to the City of New York in 2000. And it opened up all of this land just a five-minute ferry ride from New York. And they invited me to create a project that we're calling the "Open Orchard" that will bring back fruit varieties that haven't been grown in New York for over a century. Currently in progress, The Open Orchard will be 50 multigrafted trees that possess 200 heirloom and antique fruit varieties. So these are varieties that originated or were historically grown in the region. Varieties like the Early Strawberry apple, which originated on 13th Street and Third Avenue. Since a fruit tree can't be preserved by seed, The Open Orchard will act like a living gene bank, or an archive of these fruit. Like the Tree of 40 Fruit, it will be experiential; it will also be symbolic. Most importantly, it's going to invite people to participate in conservation and to learn more about their food.
总督岛曾是一个海军基地, 于 2000 年被赠予纽约市。 纽约市开放了整座岛, 离纽约只有五分钟的轮渡。 他们邀请我去创作一个 我们称为“开放果园”的项目, 这个项目会带回那些 在过去一个世纪, 未被在纽约培育的水果品种。 目前项目正在进行, “开放果园” 将会包含 50 棵多嫁接果树, 包含 200 种原生和古老的水果品种。 这些是原产于或历史上 生长于该地区的品种。 品种中有草莓苹果, 原产于 13 街和第三大道。 因为果树不可以通过种子留存, “开放果园”将会变成 一个活的基因银行, 或是这些水果的档案库。 就像是“四十果树”, “开放果园”将是实验性的, 它也将是象征性的。 最重要的是,它将会 邀请人们加入对话, 并邀请人们了解自己的食物。
Through the Tree of 40 Fruit, I've received thousands and thousands of emails from people, asking basic questions about "How do you plant a tree?" With less than three percent of the population having any direct tie to agriculture, the Open Orchard is going to invite people to come take part in public programming and to take part in workshops, to learn how to graft, to grow, to prune and to harvest a tree; to take part in fresh eating and blossom tours; to work with local chefs to learn how to use these fruit and to recreate centuries-old dishes that many of these varieties were grown specifically for. Extending beyond the physical site of the orchard, it will be a cookbook that compiles all of those recipes. It will be a field guide that talks about the characteristics and traits of those fruit, their origin and their story.
通过“四十果树”, 我收到了来自人们 的成千上万封邮件, 询问我“你怎么种树的?” 之类最基本的问题。 和农业有着直接的联系 的人口还不到3%, “开放果园”会邀请人们 参与公共项目和工作坊, 学习如何嫁接、培育、 修剪和采摘果树; 参与鲜果品尝和花季观赏; 与当地厨师一起学习 如何利用这些水果 来重新创作专门培育这些品种 来制作的百年菜谱。 延伸到果园的物理地址之外, 项目还会是包含所有菜谱的食谱书。 它会是实地指南, 包括这些水果的特征和特性, 它们的起源和它们的故事。
Growing up on a farm, I thought I understood agriculture, and I didn't want anything to do with it. So I became an artist --
成长于农场的我, 曾认为我理解农业, 我也不想从事农业相关的工作。 所以我成为了艺术家——
(Laughter)
(笑声)
But I have to admit that it's something within my own DNA. And I don't think that I'm the only one. 100 years ago, we were all much more closely tied to the culture, the cultivation and the story of our food, and we've been separated from that. The Open Orchard creates the opportunity not just to reconnect to this unknown past, but a way for us to consider what the future of our food could be.
但我必须承认我自己的 DNA 中 存在着某样东西。 我并不认为我是唯一一个。 100 年前,我们和我们食物背后的 文化、培育以及储存方法 联系更加紧密, 而现在我们与其分离了。 “开放果园”创造了这样的机会, 不止让我们与未知 的过去重新建立联系, 还让我们开始思考食物的未来 将是什么样的。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)