The Apple Gate

Light Installation Recklinghausen
© Bernd Caspar Dietrich

The Apple Gate describes the path of the apple into the fruit juice press, the causal context and the transformation of the metaphorically traditional paradise fruit in the digital age. Something is separated from an original whole and brought together again at the end - the apple as a divine fruit, less as the "malum" of a Garden of Eden.

In the fruit juice press, the harvested apples are turned into freshly pressed juices. People from the surrounding area come to the farm, pass through the gate, the Apple Gate, deliver their apples and have them weighed. In return, they take the finished juice home in an archaic exchange.

The temporary light installation, around 4.80 metres high, was created by Bernd C. Dietrich from 21 food containers for the Möller fruit juice press. The artist plays with the image of the triumphal arch and the association of oversized light pixels in a field of tension of ripe - unripe fruits and the green colour of chlorophyll. A cut-out block, standing about ten metres behind the archway, invites an optical game. Viewed diagonally from a distance, the missing column joins with the gate to form a wall and in turn creates a closed whole. A red light dot on a green base elevates the apple to the centre.