2.25m x 6.25m x 2.10m
wood, mirrors, plexiglass, Μediterranean seeds, led lights, electronic
circuit, microcontroller, sound system, community workers
16.05.2117, 20:20
...spearmint, fennel, thyme, oregano
– check
...grapes, peaches, cherries, melons
– check
...olives, sesame, figs – check
...wheat, barley, almonds, walnuts –
check
collecting, sorting, drying, depositing,
freezing, sealing, exchanging – transactions completed
16.05.2017, 20:20
The spectator stoops
slowly, inserts themselves in the inspection hole, observes the silos -
displays, surveils the activities of community workers, experiences the
architecture, is being lost in space
Silo(e)scapes envisions a hybrid of a seed bank, a sharing economy and
a museum for Mediterranean plant species that may disappear. In Silo(e)scapes
techno-utopia, the threatened native seeds are stored in transparent silos/museum
displays which are also the columns of a communal architecture. Silo(e)scapes provides to community
workers the preservation of local seeds biodiversity and the protection of Mediterranean
tastes, flavors, nutrients, and medicinal capacities threatened by environmental
catastrophes as well as the increasing demand for control and standardization. Silo(e)scapes does not belong to private
corporations. The members of Silo(e)scapes
share the contents of the deposits. Autarky is a priority. And so is freedom
and security.
Is the future of Mediterranean food a
ruined landscape? Silo(e)scapes art
installation transforms the anxiety of such dystopia into the experience of a
futuristic architecture. In Silo(e)scapes
spectators surveil a doll-house metaphor of a futuristic microcosmos through a
panopticon structure that expands in infinity. Silo(e)scapes functions as a wearable room, a portal between
reality and fantasy: Spectators insert their head into a hole to observe the
threatened species, the seed bank museum, and the sharing economy of
lilliputian citizens. The seed-columns of the infinite space, the kaleidoscope
of mirrors and agrarian sounds construct a perceptible space, which is neither
real, nor a replica; it is rather artificial and illusive. Silo(e)scapes is both threatening and seductive. The theatrical and
voyeuristic experience of Silo(e)scapes
forms an apparatus that awakens memories, but also empowers spectators to
disrupt the sequence of events causing the disappearance of these species.