Fruits of the Earth

performance and installation by:
Sonja van Kerkhoff, Sen McGlinn and Tamatea McGlinn-van Kerkhoff
at the 2nd Performances Conditionnelles arts festival, Taller, France, August, 2003.

Sen created a word - design across the top front of the shed. The text was: consider the birds of the air And then on the lower right he added these words: and the lilies of the field

This word-design was his contribution for a art project by Christian Boltanski in the Independent show at the South London Gallery in London, which he had faxed from Maastricht.

A view of Fruits of the Earth: an installation- performance showing the text on the wall, the music stand with Tama's composition "The Tenth Flower" on it and some of the nine or so cuts into the earth (with artifical lilies peeping out).

When people looked through the narrow gap, they could see a slide projection of Toroa wearing a netting of mandarins over his mouth. It was projected onto a piece of black cloth, arranged to gently move as soon as anyone touched or leaned against the shed door. For us, the gap or crack into another space (or level) related to the slits made in the earth which also revealed ' "packaged" fruits'. > The slide projection which billowed gently. This was the same image used in the festival invitation.

The festival invitation A number of people walked around wearing this type of netting on their heads or as foot decoration. It was their response to this image. For more about the 2nd Performances Conditionnelles festival.

Our performance fitted in between Erika's and Tama's and was also repeated in as a part of a cycle. It started when Sonja emerged from the gap in shed door and walked to a shrubbery to pick up a watering can. She returned to the spiral created by the pattern of cut earth and proceeded to water the grass inside the spiral.

Detail of one of slits cut into the earth filled with artifical lily flowers, and real and artifical leaves.

Sonja watering. It was a very bright day and all the photos Toroa took with the digital camera were overexposed.

After this Sonja picked up the yellow cooking pot and moved to each of the slits into the earth, taking an item out of the pot to add to the flowers there. Sometimes this was a real or artifical leaf, other times another type of flower or a tiny ceramic house.

Detail showing a small ceramic house on the left, a row of artifical lily flowers and a pink flower.

Sonja watering and planting.

Tama playing his composition, The tenth flower

Detail of the flowers to come

Photo: Jackie Aubert, France.

Text on the wall reads: and the lilies of the field

We repeated the performance four times and for the final performance, we incorporated the red petal-hat.

For most of the day, this is what the public saw.

Outdoor works

• Fruit, six hang cast resin forms, 2006.
• Nga Hau e Wha (The Four Winds/Breaths), metal sculpture, 2004.
• Generating Plant, custom-made birdhouse form, 2004.
• The Wedding, intervention/installation during the 9 Dragonheads festival, 2004.
• Inland Soul at Sea, 19 hanging forms, 2003.
• Colonising Oxford, performances and installations on the streets, 2002.
• Fruits of the Earth, installation/intervention, 2003.
• With fire we test the gold and with gold we test our servants, wooden sculpture at a Sculpture Symposium in a park in Northern Romania, 2003.
• Parking Spaces for Important Visitors, relief painted panels, 2001.
• Inspiration, paintings on shaped canvas laid on the floor, 2001.
• Just pour les oiseaux (Strictly for the birds), installations and performances during a walk through a forest setting led by a guide, 2001.
• Onder vier ogen (Between you and me) , mask-forms hung on trees, with texts and images in the orifices, 2001.
• Dans le jardin des beaux arts, 19 snail forms, (in various locations), 2000-2006.
• The Living Creature, performances in a rose garden in a public park in London, 1999.
• Change is a Law of Nature, 1996, performances on the streets, in Hull and London, U.K. (repeated in other locations in 2001, 2002, and 2004).
• Memorials, ceramic tiles laid into the earth, 1996-2001.
• Te Koru Iwa, fire drawing at the Oerol Arts Festival, The Netherlands, 1996.
• Letters van de Levende :: Letters of the Living, 19 batiked flags, 1996.