Brian Kelly, an Omaha architect and educator approached his submission as a prime opportunity for initiating dialogue about the issues affecting the population both locally and globally. Rather than attempting to resolve an architectural design problem, he is interested in encouraging an exchange of ideas about the possible reuse of agricultural and industrial relics such as these, and the catalytic change that urban infill can generate. His idea seeks to simultaneously celebrate the silo’s history and suggest a rejuvenation of the edifice that points to a synergetic contemporary culture and its lifestyles. As an architect, educator, and amateur photographer, Brian has a deep fascination with the power of the image and the ability of Montage Theory to create, as Sergei Eisnstein called it, “tertium quid” or third thing. This theory suggests that the assemblage of various, unrelated sequences in a film may be combined to produce a situation where the sum is greater than its parts. In concre(A)te synergies, a series of images of unrelated building components were assembled to create a visual alluding to something outside itself.
This work is part of Emerging Terrain's Stored Potential project, which began as a desire to re-purpose the grain elevator at 33rd and Vinton Streets. Emerging Terrain partnered with the elevator owners, city agencies, neighborhood associations and various community organizations to make the project happen. They solicited artists to submit designs addressing the themes of land use, food, and agriculture, a selection of which were printed on polyester mesh banners and installed on the exterior of the elevator silos. Up-lit at night, the banners were viewable to drivers passing on I-80, transforming the derelict structure into a super-size, drive-by art gallery. The project culminated with an outdoor dinner party for 500 people, all of whom were seated at an 800-foot-long table near the base of the installation.
