"The Hope Tree of New Fribourg" ("Árvore Esperança de Nova Friburgo") Commemorates the Relationship Between the Sister Cities of Fribourg, Switzerland, sister city, Nova Friburgo, Brazil
"Hope is the last to die." -- Portuguese proverb
NEW YORK, October 18, 2010 -- MomenTech has announced a proposal for their site-specific public project "The Hope Tree of New Fribourg" ("Árvore Esperança de Nova Friburgo") which deals with the idea of hope, and represents the second part of MomenTech's Proverbs Series.
The first part of this series, Dance By Yourself, was exhibited in September 2010, in Athens, Greece, as part of 3///3: 3 Walls on Wednesdays, a site-specific public space project organized by Blanka Amezcua.
Continuing MomenTech's exploration of sustainability and transnationalism (specifically, the scholarly research grown out of the heightened interconnectivity between people and the changing socioeconomic relationships arising from permeable state boundaries -- and how these factors affect the natural environment), The Hope Tree of New Fribourg commemorates the relationship between sister cities Fribourg, Switzerland, and Nova Friburgo, Brazil.
This commemoration is based on the installation of a permanent outdoor public space monument in Fribourg that considers an endangered tree species of historical importance to both Brazil and Europe through specific translations of the classic Portuguese proverb, "A esperança é a última a morrer" ("Hope is the last to die").
Commonly referred to as simply "Friburgo," Nova Friburgo has an estimated population of 178,102 people, known as "Friburguenses". It was settled by 2,006 Swiss emigrants from the canton of Fribourg, transferred to the region by royal decree from D. João VI in 1818, and was also the first town in the country to be settled by Germans. It contains the districts of Riograndina, Campo do Coelho, Amparo, Conselheiro Paulino, Lumiar and São Pedro da Serra.
The Hope Tree of New Fribourg consists of a large stainless-steel tree sculpture that is cast from the trunk of a young living individual Pau Brasil (Caesalpinia echinata), an endangered species of Brazilian timber tree in the pea family, commonly known as brazilwood. The tree trunk (with some branches) will be cast from a brazilwood tree currently located in Nova Friburgo or within its state of Rio de Janeiro.
Hanging from The Hope Tree of New Fribourg is a large windchime consisting of eight (8) individual chimes, each engraved with one of the eight (8) translations of the Portuguese proverb "Hope is the last to die," covering the eight primary languages spoken in Fribourg: French, German, Italian, Albanian, Serbian, Spanish, Portuguese and English.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, brazilwood was highly valued in Europe and quite difficult to get. Coming from Asia, it was traded in powder form and used as a red dye in the manufacture of luxury textiles, such as velvet, in high demand during the Renaissance. When Portuguese navigators discovered present-day Brazil, on April 22, 1500, they immediately saw that brazilwood was extremely abundant along the coast and in its hinterland, along the rivers. In a few years, a profitable brazilwood logging industry was established as a crown-granted Portuguese monopoly.
The rich commerce which soon followed stimulated other nations to try to harvest and smuggle brazilwood contraband out of Brazil. Corsairs even attacked loaded Portuguese ships in order to steal their brazilwood cargo. For example, the unsuccessful attempt of a French expedition led by Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, vice-admiral of Brittany and corsair under the King, in 1555, to establish a colony in present-day Rio de Janeiro (France Antarctique) was motivated in part by the bounty generated by economic exploitation of brazilwood. In addition, this tree is also cited in Flora Brasiliensis (1840) by the German botanist and explorer Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794-1868).
Excessive exploitation led to a steep decrease in the number of brazilwood trees in the 18th century, causing the collapse of this economic activity. Presently, the species is nearly extirpated in most of its original range. Brazilwood is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and it is cited in the official list of endangered flora of Brazil.
Restoration of the species in the wild is being hampered by the fact that it is a climax community species, which will only develop well when planted amongst secondary forest vegetation. Although lots of saplings have been distributed and/or sold during recent decades, that has led to the tree being planted in places outside its natural range, with somewhat poor results, such as happens with brazilwood trees used for urban landscaping in the city of São Paulo, whose development and flowering is usually hampered by the colder environment.
The trade of brazilwood is likely to be banned in the immediate future, creating a major problem in the bow-making industry (for stringed instruments such as the violin) which highly values this wood (see Smithsonian, April 2004, cover story). The International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative (IPCI; "pernambuco" is another term for brazilwood), whose members are the bowmakers who rely on brazilwood for their livelihoods, is working to replant it. IPCI is advocating the use of other woods for violin bows as it raises money to plant brazilwood seedlings. The shortage of brazilwood has also helped the carbon fiber bow industry to thrive.
The tuning of the chimes addresses this bow industry issue, as they will be tuned to play the eight notes of the primary melody of a Swiss violin work -- the Violin Concerto No.1 , Op.161, by Joachim Raff (1822-1882). This piece, like many violin-based musical works, may be played less in the future due to the probable ban of brazilwood. The use of the notes from Raff's piece is tentative, and another piece may instead be used after further research and consultation with the festival organizers, but must be a violin-based work of Swiss origin.
Possible sites for the installation include the Tour de Bourguillon, the location of the former Villa St. Jean International School (a secluded clifftop bluff, surrounded on three sides by the sinuous Saane/Sarine River) or one of the city's several monasteries. Considering the contemplative nature of this project, a quiet site away from the city center is preferable.
"The Hope Tree of New Fribourg" ("Árvore Esperança de Nova Friburgo") Commemorates the Relationship Between the Sister Cities of Fribourg, Switzerland, sister city, Nova Friburgo, Brazil
"Hope is the last to die." -- Portuguese proverb
NEW YORK, October 18, 2010 -- MomenTech has announced a proposal for their site-specific public project "The Hope Tree of New Fribourg" ("Árvore Esperança de Nova Friburgo") which deals with the idea of hope, and represents the second part of MomenTech's Proverbs Series.
The first part of this series, Dance By Yourself, was exhibited in September 2010, in Athens, Greece, as part of 3///3: 3 Walls on Wednesdays, a site-specific public space project organized by Blanka Amezcua.
Continuing MomenTech's exploration of sustainability and transnationalism (specifically, the scholarly research grown out of the heightened interconnectivity between people and the changing socioeconomic relationships arising from permeable state boundaries -- and how these factors affect the natural environment), The Hope Tree of New Fribourg commemorates the relationship between sister cities Fribourg, Switzerland, and Nova Friburgo, Brazil.
This commemoration is based on the installation of a permanent outdoor public space monument in Fribourg that considers an endangered tree species of historical importance to both Brazil and Europe through specific translations of the classic Portuguese proverb, "A esperança é a última a morrer" ("Hope is the last to die").
Commonly referred to as simply "Friburgo," Nova Friburgo has an estimated population of 178,102 people, known as "Friburguenses". It was settled by 2,006 Swiss emigrants from the canton of Fribourg, transferred to the region by royal decree from D. João VI in 1818, and was also the first town in the country to be settled by Germans. It contains the districts of Riograndina, Campo do Coelho, Amparo, Conselheiro Paulino, Lumiar and São Pedro da Serra.
The Hope Tree of New Fribourg consists of a large stainless-steel tree sculpture that is cast from the trunk of a young living individual Pau Brasil (Caesalpinia echinata), an endangered species of Brazilian timber tree in the pea family, commonly known as brazilwood. The tree trunk (with some branches) will be cast from a brazilwood tree currently located in Nova Friburgo or within its state of Rio de Janeiro.
Hanging from The Hope Tree of New Fribourg is a large windchime consisting of eight (8) individual chimes, each engraved with one of the eight (8) translations of the Portuguese proverb "Hope is the last to die," covering the eight primary languages spoken in Fribourg: French, German, Italian, Albanian, Serbian, Spanish, Portuguese and English.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, brazilwood was highly valued in Europe and quite difficult to get. Coming from Asia, it was traded in powder form and used as a red dye in the manufacture of luxury textiles, such as velvet, in high demand during the Renaissance. When Portuguese navigators discovered present-day Brazil, on April 22, 1500, they immediately saw that brazilwood was extremely abundant along the coast and in its hinterland, along the rivers. In a few years, a profitable brazilwood logging industry was established as a crown-granted Portuguese monopoly.
The rich commerce which soon followed stimulated other nations to try to harvest and smuggle brazilwood contraband out of Brazil. Corsairs even attacked loaded Portuguese ships in order to steal their brazilwood cargo. For example, the unsuccessful attempt of a French expedition led by Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, vice-admiral of Brittany and corsair under the King, in 1555, to establish a colony in present-day Rio de Janeiro (France Antarctique) was motivated in part by the bounty generated by economic exploitation of brazilwood. In addition, this tree is also cited in Flora Brasiliensis (1840) by the German botanist and explorer Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794-1868).
Excessive exploitation led to a steep decrease in the number of brazilwood trees in the 18th century, causing the collapse of this economic activity. Presently, the species is nearly extirpated in most of its original range. Brazilwood is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and it is cited in the official list of endangered flora of Brazil.
Restoration of the species in the wild is being hampered by the fact that it is a climax community species, which will only develop well when planted amongst secondary forest vegetation. Although lots of saplings have been distributed and/or sold during recent decades, that has led to the tree being planted in places outside its natural range, with somewhat poor results, such as happens with brazilwood trees used for urban landscaping in the city of São Paulo, whose development and flowering is usually hampered by the colder environment.
The trade of brazilwood is likely to be banned in the immediate future, creating a major problem in the bow-making industry (for stringed instruments such as the violin) which highly values this wood (see Smithsonian, April 2004, cover story). The International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative (IPCI; "pernambuco" is another term for brazilwood), whose members are the bowmakers who rely on brazilwood for their livelihoods, is working to replant it. IPCI is advocating the use of other woods for violin bows as it raises money to plant brazilwood seedlings. The shortage of brazilwood has also helped the carbon fiber bow industry to thrive.
The tuning of the chimes addresses this bow industry issue, as they will be tuned to play the eight notes of the primary melody of a Swiss violin work -- the Violin Concerto No.1 , Op.161, by Joachim Raff (1822-1882). This piece, like many violin-based musical works, may be played less in the future due to the probable ban of brazilwood. The use of the notes from Raff's piece is tentative, and another piece may instead be used after further research and consultation with the festival organizers, but must be a violin-based work of Swiss origin.
Possible sites for the installation include the Tour de Bourguillon, the location of the former Villa St. Jean International School (a secluded clifftop bluff, surrounded on three sides by the sinuous Saane/Sarine River) or one of the city's several monasteries. Considering the contemplative nature of this project, a quiet site away from the city center is preferable.