× is a series of large scale portraits of pea (Pisum sativum) cultivars, depicted in pairs, mounted on public buildings throughout the city of Brno, Czechia. The work was commissioned for the 2022 BAO Biennial, entitled gGeEnn - Mendel Is… an Artist!.
×是一系列豌豆（Pisum sativum）品种的大型肖像画，成对描绘，安装在捷克布尔诺市的公共建筑上。该作品受委托参加 2022 年 BAO 双年展，题为 gGeEnn - Mendel Is...艺术家！。

The exhibition's theme was centered around the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel, whose legacy is based on his experiments with cross breeding different pea varieties, which led him to discover the laws of heredity. Schematics of these experiments usually depict the peas as stylized green or yellow spheres with either smooth or wrinkled skin. Breaking down the workings of genes into a few simple properties and rules helps us to understand their fundamentals. But this simplification also entices us to believe that we could easily master and control the working of genes. Genes are infinitely complex, and the genome of the pea in particular is 1.4 times larger than that of a human.
展览的主题是以奥古斯丁修道士格雷戈尔·孟德尔（Gregor Mendel）为中心，他的遗产是基于他对不同豌豆品种的杂交育种的实验，这使他发现了遗传定律。这些实验的示意图通常将豌豆描绘成程式化的绿色或黄色球体，皮肤光滑或起皱。将基因的运作分解为一些简单的属性和规则有助于我们理解它们的基本原理。但这种简化也诱使我们相信，我们可以很容易地掌握和控制基因的工作。基因是无限复杂的，特别是豌豆的基因组是人类的1.4倍。

The pea varieties shown throughout Brno during BAO give a glimpse into the diversity of this plant. The chosen pea varieties are historic, non-proprietary, open pollinated cultivars, some of them going back to before Mendel's time. Peas are one of the oldest crop plants, and like all domesticated plants, they have formed a symbiotic relationship with humans. Thousands of years of cultivation and crossbreeding have changed the pea. It has become an anthropocenic species, in that it combines the needs and desires of the original plant with those of its human caretaker. This is also evident in how these cultivars are named, often after the people who grew them, their hometowns or their culinary traditions. Each cultivar is unique, and has properties or combinations of properties that none of the others have. By showing two distinct cultivars next to each other these differences become especially apparent. The photographic process and magnification turns the humble, mundane, almost boring pea into something strange, beautiful and spectacular. It is no longer just an utilitarian crop, but can be recognized as a complex life form. The depiction in pairs leads to an additional anthropomorphization. In a strange way one can relate to the peas by drawing comparisons to human couples, relationships, or dating ads. Mendel was well aware of the sexual connotations of his work. He turned to breeding peas in a steamy greenhouse after his Bishop prohibited him from continuing his experiments with breeding mice, as these were deemed too obscene for a monk to observe.
在BAO期间，布尔诺各地展示的豌豆品种让我们得以一窥这种植物的多样性。所选择的豌豆品种是历史性的、非专有的、开放授粉的品种，其中一些可以追溯到孟德尔时代之前。豌豆是最古老的农作物之一，与所有驯化植物一样，它们与人类形成了共生关系。数千年的栽培和杂交改变了豌豆。它已经成为一种人类世物种，因为它将原始植物的需求和欲望与人类看护人的需求和欲望相结合。这也体现在这些品种的命名方式上，通常以种植它们的人、他们的家乡或他们的烹饪传统命名。每个品种都是独一无二的，并且具有其他品种所没有的特性或特性组合。通过显示两个不同的品种彼此相邻，这些差异变得尤为明显。摄影过程和放大将不起眼、平凡、几乎无聊的豌豆变成了奇怪、美丽和壮观的东西。它不再只是一种功利性的作物，而是可以被认为是一种复杂的生命形式。成对的描绘导致了额外的拟人化。以一种奇怪的方式，人们可以通过与人类情侣、人际关系或约会广告进行比较来与豌豆联系起来。孟德尔很清楚他作品中的性内涵。在他的主教禁止他继续繁殖老鼠的实验后，他转向在潮湿的温室里繁殖豌豆，因为这些实验被认为太淫秽了，僧侣无法观察。

The peas shown here were obtained from farmers around Berlin and from Germany's crop seed bank IPK in Gatersleben. I used microscope lenses together with focus stacking and stitching techniques to photograph the peas in small increments, resulting in images that are so detailed that individual cells become visible. Each pea is composed of several hundred individual photographs.
这里展示的豌豆来自柏林周围的农民和位于盖特斯莱本的德国作物种子库 IPK。我使用显微镜镜头以及焦点堆叠和拼接技术以小增量拍摄豌豆，从而产生如此详细的图像，以至于单个细胞变得清晰可见。每颗豌豆都由数百张单独的照片组成。

BRNO ART OPEN 2022
2022年布尔诺艺术公开赛
gGeEnn - Mendel Is… an Artist!
gGeEnn - 孟德尔是...艺术家！
8.6.-28.8.2022
Brno, Czechia 布尔诺， 捷克
Works by Tomas Gabzdil Libertiny (SK/NL), Anna Hulačová (CZ), Kuai Shen (EC/D), Saša Spačal (SI), Jiří Y. Suchánek (CZ), Uli Westphal (D)
托马斯·加布兹迪尔·利伯丁斯（SK/NL）、安娜·胡拉乔娃（捷克）、沈快（EC/D）、萨沙·斯帕查尔（SI）、伊日·苏查内克（捷克）、乌利·韦斯特法尔（德国）的作品
Curated by Milan Mikuláštík, Milan Kreuzzieger
策展人：Milan Mikuláštík， Milan Kreuzzieger
Hosted by House of Arts, Brno, Czech Republic
房东：House of Arts， Brno， Czech Republic
www.dum-umeni.cz