Landmark Silo

They characterise the landscape of south-eastern Styria: silos and storehouses. Square or cylindrical, they rise high above many of the local villages or communities. It is not uncommon that only church spires stand higher than these landmarks of agriculture and agro-industry; silos dominate the public space. However, they offer no view into their interiors which are sealed and fenced off against the exterior world.

Landmark Silo, a performance with projections, queries our habits of seeing and perceiving things, queries what appears to be part of our daily lives and seems familiar, and, at the same, time questions the object itself. What really lies ‘behind' it? What do we find on the other side of the familiar concrete shell?

Light is used as the instrument to provoke this alternative approach to seeing. Using ‘X-ray' or ‘radar', which are actually projections with high-powered beamers, Anke Strittmatter of the osa-office for subversive architecture throws pictures on the exterior walls of these objects. The choice of unusual objects and an over-dimensional presentation of size aims at creating an irritating effect on the viewers.

The Landmark Silo projections can be seen in two locations: On 11, 12, 18, and 19 July, the silo in Feldbach will serve as the screen, and on 26 and 26 July, and 1 and 2 August the agro-landmark in Studenzen lies at the core of this ironic-subversive approach.