WE PARAPOM!
European Parade of Apple Trees
European Parade of Apple Trees
The art project "WE PARAPOM! - Collective European Parade of Apple Trees", curated by the Austrian artist Barbara Holub, is one of the first visible projects in the program of the Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025. Up to 2,000 x 2 trees of different European apple varieties will be planted in an informal axis across the city and across property boundaries, connecting diverse neighborhoods and social backgrounds. The apple trees march for their rights (against exclusion, for fairer working conditions, for an ecologically and socially engaged society, questioning norms) cross-country, across property lines, on private and public land. When Joseph Beuys planted 7,000 oak trees in Kassel in 1982, it radically touched on the understanding of art and the awareness of historical responsibility, and is a work of art that still stimulates debate today. When 2,000 x 2 apple trees will be planted in Chemnitz by 2025 and beyond, this picks up on current ecological and social issues that can also be re-read in the context of Beuys and Marx through the artistic-urban interventions. Starting in November 2021, German and international artists will realize artistic interventions that address current social issues such as,questioning the representation of power, the current situation of democracy and stimulate new engagement of civil society for active democratic participation. How can art activate new and lost qualities in our everyday lives, which are characterized by the pressure for efficiency, and thus become effective in social processes? |
WE PARAPOM!
_a flagship project for the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 curated by Barbara Holub For information see: htttps://weparapom.eu |
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info campaign by bueronardin
"WE PARAPOM!" only exists through a community of the many! "WE PARAPOM!" will not only cross property boundaries but also break down social boundaries. For this purpose, all interested citizens, city authorities, institutions, associations, organizations are invited to sponsor or support the planting of apple trees on private and public land. This can be done at several levels: To provide a site along the route of the parade for planting and to take care of the maintenance, or - if you do not dispose of a plot, to take responsibility for the maintenance at another site and thus also promote the project in terms of its ambitions. "Parade" - revisited Parades have a long tradition as an expression of power and the display of government interests and ideologies. Here, the celebration often has the flavor of forced cheering, which can also make one shudder. In order to be able to celebrate the political parades in a dignified manner, wide boulevards were erected - especially in communist systems - as was the case in Chemnitz. In the meantime, however, marginalized groups in society (such as LGBT) have also fought for a place in the midst of society via the Gay Love Parade. Proud, loud and funny, imaginative, they march – and now also the apple trees - and show to society what people often cannot or do not dare to do - to step out of the box and enjoy it. Questioning standards The apple is defined by EU standards and thus the variety has been visibly reduced, so that domestic apples are hardly offered in supermarkets anymore. If an apple fails the standard, it is meanwhile offered cheaply in Austria as "Wunderling" („wonderling“) by a German supermarket chain. What is the "norm"? Which norms are necessary for our social coexistence? Where do we want to "fall out of the norm" and thus take a stand for what apparently "doesn't fit"? WE PARAPOM! provides space to these "wonderlings", for discussing and exploring their visions and macro-utopias. Sponsorships The „parade of the apple trees“ only becomes strong through the sponsorships and care of citizens, associations, institutions, companies and organizations, who want to take responsibility for the success of such an ambitious project, which will be effective in the long term as a significant, collaborative art project of the European Capital of Culture 2025 and beyond. In this way urban public space is being shaped collectively. 
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