Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Taming Nature

One day it just stood up on its own.

As it is customary in the winter season, I have been enjoying clementine oranges from Spain (in Japan they are called "mikan"). It is said that a person that can peel the mikan such that the peelings are removed in a single piece is somehow of a sophisticated nature. I personally think a truly sophisticated person would have the mikan peeled for them by someone else. But aside from sophistication, there is great joy in the ease of peeling these little winter oranges.

Frankly, I keep a fairly messy desk. This is not a recommended behavior of course. I've noticed that people with neatly organized virtual desktops on their computers tend to have neatly organized physical desktops. I'm jealous.

A month ago I left a sophisticate's peeling of a mikan on my desk, only to notice that on the next day, it began to dry from the inside of the skin such that it crumpled into something akin to a Frank Gehry building design. I found this transformation to be miraculous! Further experimentation revealed that I could make the mikan peel stand up in a variety of configurations. My final experiment shown here is a cubic formation of the standing mikan peel created by resting the peel on top of an acrylic cube. While the peel dried, I conformed the shape to the cube with some gentle molding techniques. Perhaps this is the new modern bonsai-like hobby for the modern individual?

Posted by maeda at April 12, 2005 08:56 AM