Artist Talk: Sam Van Aken

Sam Van Aken is a contemporary artist and Associate Professor of sculpture at Syracuse University who works beyond traditional modes of art making, crossing artistic genres and disciplines to develop new perspectives on such themes as communication, botany, agriculture, climatology, and the ever-increasing impact of technology.

Employing “anti-structures and unknowing as generative processes”, Van Aken’s interventions in the natural and public realm are seen as metaphors that serve as the basis of narrative, sites of place making, and in some cases even become the basis of scientific research. Combining public art and environmental preservation, The Open Orchard will be an expansive new artwork by Sam Van Aken on Governors Island that takes the form of an orchard of 50 fruit trees. Each individual tree will contain multiple varieties of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries and apples that were historically grown in the New York City region over the past 500 years but which have been lost to climate change and the industrialization of agriculture. The Open Orchard brings these native and heirloom varieties back as living trees and shares them with the public, giving everyone a chance to see and taste fruits that, in some cases, haven’t been available for centuries. At the same time, the orchard will serve as a living gene bank, safeguarding biodiversity for future generations.

The FAR & Away visiting artists series at the FSU Facility for Arts Research (FAR) is supported by the FSU College of Fine Arts.