The Hebrew University in Jerusalem Stage II –
2009-2022
Location: Hebrew University Mount Scopus campus, Jerusalem
Materials: Historical Botanical Garden
Dimensions: 25 dunam
Project History:
2009 The Geophyte collection, renovation of the lower pond
2011-12 Handicapped toilets, Main path completion
2014-15 Domesticated plants plot and the ‘Well’ fountain
2018 Mt. Scopus summit and the Zohari entrance
2020-21 Nectar and Host plants plot, ‘Mud rock’ fountain
Key Meanings: Accessibility for the disabled, Domesticated Plants and the Beginnings of Agriculture, Mt. Scopus topographical summit, Nectar, Pollen, and Host Plants, Pollination of flowers, Hill-topping, Mud-puddling, Fountain designed for insects.
Artist Statement: The French philosopher Henri Bergson distinguishes between two directions in the development of animal life. The first includes the vertebrates of which we humans - the most advanced representatives - have developed an ability he terms ‘intelligence’. In the second direction are the arthropods of which the most developed are insects - specifically the Hymenoptera - which have perfected ‘instinct’. Intelligence is focused on material which man has learned to utilize for his many needs. Instinct, on the contrary, is molded on the very form of life and its rhythms, to which it is perfectly tuned. We see ourselves as masters of the earth but it is not clear whether insects are not much more dominant. In any case, insects are clearly more important for the preservation of the many other forms of life upon the planet, especially plants.
‘Mud-puddling’ – Butterflies and other insects absorb electrolytes, nutrients, and minerals found in mud. The mud bowl in the stone sculpture was inspired by this phenomenon.
Preliminary drawing for the construction of the Domesticated Plants plot – Morin 2014
Domesticated Plants and the Beginnings of Agriculture
In the ninth millennium BCE (the Neolithic period), a new way of life emerged in the Near East in which man ceased to live as hunter-gatherer and became farmer and shepherd. This revolution – wherein man began producing his food – included the domestication of grain crops barley, wheat, lentil, chickpea, and flax, as well as animals such as goat, sheep, pig, and cattle.
The three major components of Mediterranean agro-economy since the end of the Stone Age were cereals, olives, and the grapevine. Examples of these and other orchard and field species are represented in the plot, and symbolically the “soil,” “threshing floor” and “storeroom” which are related to the production of flour, oil, and wine.
The summit of 'Mt. Scopus' was marked on a 1925 British map as 830.89 in altitude. It was located approximately 50 m west of this point, were the Jewish Sciences Building was constructed in 1940 (the faculty of Law today).
The Zohari Entrance and Mt. Scopus Summit – June 2018
