Artistic Eating of Apples

In 1998, at the invitation of the In Search of Harmony Charitable Foundation, members of the New Blockheads Cooperative conducted inclusive (then referred to as integrative) art workshops as part of the socio‑cultural forum From Monologue to Dialogue, which brought together people of different ages and states of health.

Artistic Eating of Apples was enacted as one of the foundation’s art‑therapy projects, with the support of and hosted by the State Russian Museum. Igor Panin welcomed neurodiverse children with apples and invited them to become direct participants in the exhibition project, encouraging them to view an everyday action as a creative act. Is it possible to eat a piece of fruit as if carving a sculpture? What can be an artistic material? Is it important to consider cultural context when creating an artwork? These questions were addressed in a brief introductory talk by the artist, after which the participants began creating their objects. The result was an exhibition of “creative” apple cores, each labeled with the name of its maker. For participants who were dissatisfied with the result, a “basket of non‑creative apples” was provided. The number of attempts was limited by the number of apples Panin had purchased at the market.