Silos as art, art as proposal

Posted 8/21/12

CALLICOON, NY — What to do with the silos? That is the question on North School Studio director Isaac Green Diebboll’s mind. Diebboll purchased the silos on Callicoon’s Main Street along with …

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Silos as art, art as proposal

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CALLICOON, NY — What to do with the silos? That is the question on North School Studio director Isaac Green Diebboll’s mind. Diebboll purchased the silos on Callicoon’s Main Street along with the adjoining weigh station. The silos’ previous purpose was to store coal, which would be transported to the weigh station where people could pick it up. But they have lain dormant for years, and now Diebboll wishes to bring new life to the silos, as part of the campus of his North School Studio (NSS).

The other directors of NSS are Michael Carpenter, Thomas Bosket, Laura Nitz and Matthew Lohry. North School Studio is a creative consultancy that approaches economic development through education and design. They co-create projects through inclusive outreach, building relationships with citizens, local government, institutions, businesses and organizations. Their unique relationship with the community allows them to connect creative problem-solving with public initiatives responding to shifting demographics, environmental concerns and new technologies. And that is exactly what they did in answering the “what to do with the silos” question by hosting an art exhibit, titled “Fuel for Thought” on display at the Weigh Station, 12 Lower Main St.

The exhibit is organized by Bill Beirne, a New York City and Callicoon artist who has exhibited extensively since 1970, including at MoMA/P.S.1, The Whitney Museum of American Art and more. Beirne met Diebboll through a firefighter friend (Diebboll wears many hats, one of which is a volunteer fireman’s helmet) and had a long conversation with him about NSS. “I liked the idea of social practice, which is current in the arts,” Beirne commented. So he gathered together some artist friends whom he knew would fit the task and asked them to come up with an idea/art installation for the silos.

The five artists are Nancy Hwang, Brenna Beirne, Kay Hines, Kat Ching and Beirne. Their plans, proposals and models take what is already there (the silos) and repurposes them. Beirne quoted, “The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more,” said by Douglas Huebler 1969.

Beirne categorized the artists’ work as “absurdist conceptual art.” Proposals included the projection of images on the silo exterior, transforming the top structure into an ice cream-dispensing performance site, turing the silos into a confessional in which written confessions would be transformed into a honeycomb that would become part of the structure itself, a short video presentation inspired by the architectural motifs of the silos, and an architectural intervention creating “silo–scopes” as a surveillance device or for monitoring the sky.

While no proposal will be chosen as the “winner,” Diebboll is open to suggestions from the community on what to do with the silos. Beirne said this exhibit is “in line with Isaac’s community involvement on a cultural level” and that he hopes it will “spark creativity and acknowledgment of how people see structures like this.” During the opening reception on July 25, Beirne said some people were offering ideas, such as a chef who thought the silos could be like water towers, and could be used to help alleviate the warm river water temperatures that are causing stress for the wild trout population.

The exhibit “Fuel for Thought” is on view until August 9, and is open from Wednesday through Sunday from 12 noon to 7 p.m. Stop by, and maybe you’ll have an idea yourself.

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