Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue
| Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Year | 12 December 2002 |
| Location | Warsaw, Poland |
| Coordinates | 52°13′54″N 21°01′15″E / 52.2317°N 21.0208°E |
Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue[1] (in Polish: "Pozdrowienia z Alej Jerozolimskich", literally "Greetings from Jerusalem Avenues") is a site-specific artwork in the form of a life-size artificial date palm. It was designed by Polish artist Joanna Rajkowska, and is located on the Charles de Gaulle Roundabout (Rondo gen. Charles’a de Gaulle’a), where Aleje Jerozolimskie intersects with Nowy Swiat street in the Polish capital of Warsaw. It was erected on December 12, 2002. The work was intended by Rajkowska to draw attention to "the absence of the Jewish community in Poland" by highlighting and challenging "the invisibility of the street’s name."[2]
Inspiration
The palm tree was inspired by Joanna Rajkowska's and Artur Żmijewski's visit to Israel in 2001. The initial idea was to construct an espalier of the artificial date palms, but instead of the espalier Joanna Rajkowska chose to construct one palm. The project was intended as a social experiment to expose the void left by the absence of Jews in Poland.[3] Before the Second World War, 30% of Warsaw's population was Jewish (about 370,000 people)[4] in comparison to the current estimated population of 0.125% (less than 2,000 people).[5] Rajkowska conceived Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue as an anti-monument that metaphorically brings the “vanished Jews back into the landscape of contemporary Poland”.[6]
The designer treats her artistic construction as Leftist.[7]
Construction
The palm is a life-size replica of a hybrid date and coconut palm tree, mounted on a slightly elevated circular foundation covered with self-seeding weeds. It is a mixed-media art installation, made of metal, PVC, fibreglass, polyurethane resin and natural date palm bark. The 12-meter (36 feet) tall structure is not permanently attached to the ground, instead, it is mounted on an octagonal metal foundation, a so-called grill, weighed down by concrete prefabricates, covered with soil and self-seeding weeds.[8] The trunk is supported by a steel pipe and covered with natural date palm bark. Each leaf is made of fiberglass and resin mounted on a steel core, and attached to the trunk with metal bolts. During its existence, the installation has gone through several technical restorations to stabilize its structure, and ensure durability. The present combination of artificial and natural materials give the replica a natural appearance and make it resistant to weather conditions. The tree itself was made by an American company Soul-utions.Com.
Critical reception
"Greetings from Jerusalem Avenues" attracted media attention before it was even installed. The earliest articles date back to 2001.[9] Once the installation was unveiled, it received immediate attention from the Polish and foreign press. By 2003, numerous articles had been published, including in Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Los Angeles Times, the Polish edition of Newsweek, and Gazeta Wyborcza, a major Polish newspaper. The coverage focused on the political transformation in Poland, accession to the EU, and the country’s economic development. The Newsweek issue featured an image of Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement logo in front of the tree.
"Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue" has received attention in academic circles. The first critical text was published six years after the project was completed,[10] yet despite becoming one of the most recognizable sights in Warsaw, scholarship addressing the circumstances or impact of the installation has been scarce. Authors have analysed the installation in the context of colonialism and postcolonialism, Polish-Jewish history, memory after the Holocaust, the Polish-Jewish-Palestinian geopolitical triangle, and the emigration of the Jews from Poland to the United States.[11]
Public reception and use
Since its inception, the palm tree location has become a prominent site for political and social activists, including women, nurses, LGBTQ+ communities, environmental activists, protesters against the war in Ukraine and other groups.
References
- ^ Rajkowsa.com
- ^ Rajkowsa.com
- ^ Joanna Rajkowska, Where the Beast is Buried. Winchester, UK & Washington, USA: Zero Books 2013. P268
- ^ Barbara Engelking and Jacek Leociak. Getto warszawskie. Przewodnik po nieistniejącym mieście. Warsaw: Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów 2001
- ^ “Mniejszości narodowe i etniczne. Żydzi.” Serwis Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
- ^ Uilleam Blacker, Spatial Dialogues and Holocaust Memory in Contemporary Polish Art: Yael Bartana, Rafał Betlejewski and Joanna Rajkowska. The Open Arts Journal 3, 2014. P173.
- ^ "Dlaczego Rajkowska ogołociła palmę? Znamy odpowiedź". Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ Artur Żmijewski, Drżące ciała. Rozmowy z artystami. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej 2007. Page 296. ISBN: 978-8361006374.
- ^ Artmuseum.pl
- ^ Przewodnik Krytyki Politycznej, P43.
- '^ Helena Chmielewska-Szlajfer. The Plastic Palm and Memories in the Making: Conceptual Art Work on Warsaw’s Jerusalem Avenue. International Journal of Politics Culture and Society. 23(4) 2010. 201-211; Blacker, Uilleam. Spatial Dialogues and Holocaust Memory in Contemporary Polish Art: Yael Bartana, Rafał Betlejewski and Joanna Rajkowska. The Open Arts Journal 3, 2014. Pp173-187; Justyna Wierzchowska. Polish Colonial Past and Postcolonial Presence in Joanna Rajkowska’s Art. In: In Other Words: Dialogizing Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonialism. E. Luczak, J. Wierzchowska and J. Ziarkowska (eds.). Peter Lang 2011. 231-246; Robert Yerachmiel Sniderman. A Disruptive Desire to Be Where It Stands. 2020.