HEVEALOGY

Posted by Isabelle Desjeux on February 28, 2018 · 1 Comment 

The cover for the handbook “Hevealogy” which promises to teach you nothing but leave you asking.

Hevealogy

noun [u] /hɪəviːlə.dʒi/  the scientific study of the rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis.

As part of the school programme, students follow classes on physics, chemistry, biology, geography, history… But the rubber plant is so important that it needs its own classroom and its own hours of study in the curriculum.

Hevea brasiliensis (the botanical name for Parà rubber tree) came from Brazil in 1877, in the form of 11 seedlings smuggled out of Brazil, via Kew gardens in England. By 1935, 40% of the land area in Singapore will be covered by rubber plantation. The latex, for which the mature trees is tapped,  is used mostly to produce rubber for tires and the automotive industry. Understanding the Hevea brasiliensis plant in all its aspects requires information from all the above-mentioned fields. 

In this HEVEALOGY classroom, you are expected to ask questions to which the teacher will not have answers.“Curiosity, Excitement, Failure”happen daily here.

The teacher is as ignorant about as the students. Together they can figure out questions and how best to answer them, with the help of the right specialist. Including the meditation teacher.

This March, come and visit our Hevealogy classroom, installed in Chatsworth International School. This Art Science interactive installation lets you feel like a student, ready to discover more about the humble rubber tree and it’s magic rubber pod. It will leave you knowing that you know so little about such a curious natural element, and curious for more.

“HOW TO STUDY A RUBBER SEED”, multi-media installation by Isabelle Desjeux. Part of Open House! Emerald Hill, more particularly the “Fantastic Beasts and Man-Eating Flower” trail, this exhibition is one of many addressing the colonial and commodities history of Singapore’s most commercial district. Come and see the show, open every week-end of March 2018. Get your tickets, or send me a message (idesjeux at mac.com) if you’d like a private tour of the classroom..

For previous work related to the Hevea brasiliensis, you may wish to look at 1000 Rubber seeds and one mutant, 2014 (SAM)

A freshly exploded pod with seed (one of 3 parts of the pod)

96 shells to study to understand Hevea better

A single seed, showing off its stippled pattern

A Hevea brasiliensis seedling and seeds

The madness in the studio in the weeks before the installation

detail of the set

a seed still attached to the seedling

Many rubber pods, ready to be placed into the exploding box

the set, ready for the “Lecture” to be recorded

in the weeks before the installation, I spent time at different venues and with different people talking about the rubber pod and “spreading” information and consciousness about it, in returning gaining some insight into the questions normal people might have about the rubber seeds.

This Zoetrope, first part of the 1000 Rubber Seeds and One Mutant shown in 2014 at SAM will be on show agin, on the teacher’s desk.

 

 

Filed under Art, ArtScience, Exhibition, Installation, Performative Lecture, Science, Video · Tagged with Art, Exhibition, Installation, lecture, OH! Emerald Hill, performance, Science