fallen fruit: united fruitlos angeles contemporary exhibitions (LACE), los angelesjune 17th to september 27th, 2009

a film still of a young boy enjoying a banana image © designboom‘united fruit’ is the first solo exhibition by art collective fallen fruit (david burns, matias viegener and austin young). the exhibition held at LACE, presents a new body of work that was generated during the collective’s recent residency in colombia, south america. the exhibition’s title comes from the united fruit company which exists today in a much reduced form as chiquita bananas. more powerful than the latin american countries it colonized, the corporation was marked by its ruthlessness and corruption. its exploitation of workers and turbulent history of protests and events lead to the infamous banana massacre of 1928 near the town of ciénega, colombia which fallen fruit visited to create this work. the collective has chosen to retain the title ‘united fruit’ for its hopeful and utopian echo, a contrast to its actual history. the show features photographs and video installations which explore the social, political and pop history of the bananas. ‘united fruit’ also engages its subject in a range of bold and oblique strategies, signaling perhaps that no single history of the banana is possible.

the banana is arguably the most popular fruit in the world. the bananas we eat today literally went from being unknown to universal in less than a century.

fallen fruit: 'united fruit' at LACE, los angeles a large graphic of the comical and often suggestive fruit image © designboom

fallen fruit: 'united fruit' at LACE, los angeles video still of a worker in a plantation image © designboom

fallen fruit: 'united fruit' at LACE, los angelesa series of portraits of the unionized workers from a colmbian banana plantation image © designboom

fallen fruit: 'united fruit' at LACE, los angelestwo workers image © designboom

fallen fruit: 'united fruit' at LACE, los angeles image © designboom

fallen fruit: 'united fruit' at LACE, los angelesfallen fruit: 'united fruit' at LACE, los angeles ‘peligro trampero’, wall-size photograph of a colombian banan plantation on nine panels image © designboom

fallen fruit: 'united fruit' at LACE, los angelesimage © designboom

fallen fruit: 'united fruit' at LACE, los angelesperforated plastic cover protects the bananas image © designboom

fallen fruit is a collaboration between david burns, matias viegener and austin young. founded in 2004, their projects range from social practice (events, performances and public actions). they deploy fruit in their work, examining social relationships, the environment, urban space and capitalism. all of their projects engage fruit and the humans who eat it. next up for exploration will be kiwis and arctic berries.