A grain silo, designed in 1935 in the town of Kristiansand in southern Norway, has been rehabilitated and transformed into an art and culture center inaugurated in 2024.
Mestres Wage, Mendoza Partida and BAX Studio have set themselves the goal of preserving and modernizing heritage values. In May 2024, the Kunstsilo Museum opened its doors in Kristiansand, Southern Norway, on the small island of Odderøya, once home to a naval base. It is a former grain silo, built in 1935 by Arne Korsmo and Sverre Aarsland, leading figures of the Norwegian functionalist movement. This listed monument could store up to 15,000 tonnes of grain. Today, the three studios have succeeded in transforming it into a contemporary art museum that spans 8,850 square meters and stands 38 meters high. In its six months of existence, Kunstsilo has become the new arts destination by the sea, alongside the Kilden Performing Arts Centre and the Knuden Cultural School.
ARCHITECTURAL ICON
The structure consists of some thirty cylinders, a stair tower and a wood and concrete storage building. In the 1930s, this grain silo was the first functionalist building in Kristiansand and the second in the whole country, after the Vippetangen silo in Oslo harbor. Following its closure in 2008, the city council decided to preserve it.
In 2015, businessman Nicolai Tangen donated his art collection to his hometown, and proposed making the silo Kristiansand's new art museum. Plans to transform it into an exhibition space began in 2019, with a view to opening five years later.
The Kunstsilo is home to the Tangen collection, the world's most important private collection of Nordic modernist art. The inaugural exhibition, "Passions of the North", featured 600 of the more than 5,500 works donated by Nicolai Tangen. The organizers wanted to show just how "diversified modern art is" and that "it's not just about new forms, colors and figures, but also about the great historical events of the time".
The museum also holds the Sørlandet collection, on regional crafts and artists, and the Christianssand collection, the city's first, created in 1902.
SPACIOUS AND BRIGHT
With its simplified language, the building's architecture uses large surfaces, straight lines and geometric shapes that stand out in the urban landscape. "A 21-metre-high cathedral-sized hall, cut out from beneath the silo cylinders, becomes the heart of the museum - the silo hall," explain the architects.
The exhibition spaces now stretch over 3,300 square metres, showcasing regional and digital art, culinary experiences, concerts, lectures, debates and family workshops. They surround the silo hall on the second, third and fourth floors.
The first floor houses a central space, including the museum store, the auditorium and the café on the silo platform. The fifth-floor roof also hosts open-air exhibitions with panoramic views of the city and sea.
In addition to wood and concrete, glass is another important component of the building, creating visual and functional relationships between inside and outside. The glass cylinder above the silos is intended as a "beacon" for the city of Kristiansand.
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
For its 2024-2025 season, Kunstsilo presents an exhibition by British artist Edmund de Waal, known for his work in ceramics and his literary works, in dialogue with sculptures by Danish ceramics master Axel Salto (1889-1961).
In the first half of 2025, it will be Norwegian photographer Mette Tronvoll's turn to exhibit her portfolio of old, well-known and new photographs. Digital art will complete the program, highlighting artists who work with technology, in collaboration with Lumen Art Projects and the Lumen Awards.
KUNSTSILO.NO
