Günther Petzold
The Apple-Tree (Expulsion From Paradise)
3-channel video-installation with ladder and apples, 1989-1998
tapes: 1. The Meal 2. The House 3. The Way
According to the First Book of Moses in the Genesis, God created a garden in the land of Eden, where he gave habitation to Adam and Eve. In the center of the garden two particular trees were growing: one tree, which was giving life and another, which was giving knowledge. From that tree they should not eat, but the fruits were appealing and one could become clever. Eve took a fruit and was eating it, gave to Adam, who was eating it too. From that moment both could see clear ...
We know how the story continues, we know about Kain and Abel and about envy, intolerance, aggression and violonce.
Are we free of guilt ? Things happen, where one is actively not involved, but as a whitness one keeps silent and suppresses. In my nearer environment I experience the refusal to conceive the unknown and the strange, the exclusion of the powerless, the escalation of violence.
The tapes in the installation focus on the negation, the sorrow and the fruitless way out.
We stay as part of the total constellation. A reason to think it over.