Greetings from Jerozolimskie Avenue is a public project in the city space. Its main element is an artificial date palm: Phoenix Canariensis, which stands in Warsaw at the intersection of: Jerozolimskie Avenue and Nowy Świat, on the islet of the de Gaulle roundabout.
Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue is an idea taken from language, from storytelling, from an attempt to describe a trip to Israel. The palm trees along Jerusalem Avenue were intended as a summary of the trip that Joanna Rajkowska and Artur Żmijewski took in the spring of 2001. In the literal sense, it is a transfer of a view that is obvious in Israel to Warsaw, to a street whose name in turn refers to Israel. On a less literal level, the palm refers to an expression with which, in Polish, we describe something unthinkable, something beyond our comprehension, something that, in short, we consider idiotic. Certainly, this palm tree is a collective, absurd endeavour by many people, and in this way it fulfils its primary function: to bring people together, to confront something they do not understand.
The palm tree is made of plastic and natural materials and is suitable for outdoor conditions - resistant to rain, snow and low temperatures - and protected from the effects of sunlight. The leaves are made of polyethylene with a UV filter. Located inside the trunk, the structure prevents it from tilting in the wind. The steel stem is clad in structural polyurethane and bark, properly treated with chemicals. The whole is set on a metal structure, fixed with precast concrete elements. The height of the palm tree including the crown is approximately 15 metres. The palm tree was designed by the authors of the project and manufactured by Soul-utions.Com in the United States.