On the origin of apples. Lecture by Paul Van Laer & conversation between Antje Majewski and Azhar Jandossova

All feel welcome to join us for this free to attend lecture and talk on the origin of apples, as part of the exhibition Apple. An Introduction (over and over and once again) – Organised by Antje Majewski and Paweł Freisler. 

Saturday 18 May the second part of the Superhost project will be introduced. With works by: Alma Museum, Pawel Freisler, Antje Majewski, Joris de Rycke, Kasper de Vos. In Joris de Rycke’s ongoing project Pomology the idea of varieties itself is questioned. He shows us apple trees found growing from discarded apple cores in the surroundings of Antwerp. As apple trees can’t self-pollinate, every tree that grows from a seed is a new unnamed variety. Since 2019, these apples are documented, named and the ones with an interesting taste and qualities are propagated by grafting. Their unique tastes and qualities are copied into new trees that are nursed in an orchard at the Verbeke Foundation (Kemzeke). In time they will be planted back into the landscape.

Lecture by Paul Van Laer (coordinator National Orchard Foundation of Belgium)

15:00-15:40

Language: Dutch

Location: M HKA auditorium

If an apple tree produces fruit of good quality and you want to obtain several trees with the same fruit, you cannot do so by sowing out the pips. You can only obtain the same apples by grafting twig parts from one tree onto a conspecific. The art of breeding grew into a regular practice worldwide. In his introduction, renowned pomologist Paul Van Laer takes us on an apple journey through history, from the Tian Shan mountains in Kazakhstan to the Herb Garden in Leuven.

Conversation between artist Antje Majewski and Azhar Jandossova (Alma Museum, Almaty, Kazakhstan)

15:40-16:00

Language: English

Location: Sixth floor, Superhost M HKA

Azhar Jandossova is the director of the small but beautiful Alma Museum, literally ‘Apple Museum’, in Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan. Artist Antje Majewski conducted research in the region for her film The Freedom of Apples. The original ancestor of our cultivated apple, the Malus sieversii, comes from Kazakhstan. This variety is a source of genetic apple diversity, but unfortunately, it is currently threatened with extinction due to climate change and imported tree species. Jandossova and Majewski engage in conversation, discussing why the wild apple forests in the Tian Shan Mountains are not only important for Kazakhstan but for the whole world, and how we can make room for cultivated crops.

Screening The Freedom of Apples, a film by Antje Majewski in the Auditorium

16:00

Location: M HKA auditorium

As part of the presentation, one can discover Majewski’s documentary The Freedom of Apples, which highlights the problems caused by the disappearance of less commercially viable apple varieties, and the importance of preserving Kazakhstan’s wild apple forests.

In the auditorium, Majewski’s documentary  The Freedom of Apples  will take you on a personal journey to the origins of apples and towards a deeper understanding of our relationship with apples.