From grain to art in 100 years: The battle of the silos – Southern Norway

– The process could have been even better anchored, right from the start.

Oil fund manager Nicolai Tangen has seen a political storm calm down.

There are days left until Kunstsilo opens in Kristiansand.

The criticism has subsided.

CNN and the Financial Times have visited the world’s largest “collection of Nordic art”.

More are on the way.

– I have now worked in the public sector for four years through the Oil Fund. I have seen how important it is to anchor projects, says Tangen.

– You could have brought in even more parties in a better way. But otherwise, a lot is done right.

• Kunstsilo has a raw, industrial beauty, but is also eerie and uniformly monumental, writes NRK’s ​​architecture and art critic Mona Pahle Bjerke in her review.

A nine-year process ends on Saturday 11 May with the opening of Kunstsilo.

89 years after the building was filled with grain for the first time, the white giant stands fully restored.

Filled with Nordic art donated for eternity by city kid and financier Nicolai Tangen.

For decades after decades, it was filled with food grains for humans and animals.

So emptied and decommissioned.

Reputed for being the ugliest in town.

Then mocked to make himself look good for the fife.

Now it’s time for art.

Assembly in concrete

In the spring of 2015, the phone rang in the office of Conservative mayor Arvid Grundekjøn.

Nicolai Tangen in London had something on his mind. Over the course of 30 years, he had bought into Nordic art.

First Norwegian. Then Swedish, Danish and eventually Finnish. Art worth several hundred million kroner needed more space.

Could he give the collection of Nordic modernism to his home town of Kristiansand?

The mayor floated the idea with other party leaders.

Soon, Grundekjøn and Tangen were strolling on an inspection among relevant addresses. The tour ended at the Kilden theater and concert hall – the closest neighbor to a dilapidated concrete silo.

The gaze fell on the protected colossus.

The last grain of food had long since rolled out.

A new seed sprouted.

Protection against famine

The grain silo for Christiansands Møller was built in 1935.

Grain in quantities was preparedness.

The silos were to prevent famine during war.

The years passed, the grain stores grew.

But the need decreased.

The mill companies were rationalized away, the silos took up a lot of space in important port areas and food preparation became less important.

In 2010, Kristiansand decided that the silo should be preserved.

But for what?

– Oslo has enough

– There is light literature and there is heavy literature.

In Nicolai Tangen’s office is the new book work “Tangen-samlingen” volume 1 and volume 2.

– This one is heavy. It weighs 6.5 kilos, says Tangen.

The museum has received its first international headlines.

“One of the world’s ten most significant new buildings in 2024”, according to CNN.

The Financial Times believes that Kunstsilo is one of the world’s leading travel destinations this year.

– Nine years is a short time for such a museum project, according to Tangen.

– Why to Kristiansand?

– There are plenty of museum collections in Oslo. Kristiansand needs more cool projects. And there the silo stood like a wound in the landscape.

But filling the silo with Nordic art would be considerably more painful than blowing it full of grain.

Sørland news

In December 2016, the city council decided to go for Kunstsilo.

The following year, a unanimous city council set NOK 50 million in the 2018 budget.

But did they have the people with them?

After one billionaire handed out gifts, another billionaire appeared.

In Fædrelandsvennen, Netthandelen and Bli vårder founder Einar Øgrey Brandsdal called the silo “the city’s ugliest building by far”.

Art Silo was called a “silly project”.

An opinion was raised.

Art, an old silo and public expenditure in the 100-million range became an explosive mix.

The Facebook phenomenon “Sørlandsnyheten” saw the light of day and captured dissatisfaction with several public projects in Kristiansand.

The forum kept its writers secret and the number of followers exceeded 20,000.

Personal attacks and allegations of camaraderie floated around and thundered like heavy ocean waves against Kunstsilo.

Among the conspiracies was a container of champagne that should have been ordered, and plans to sell art illegally to Russian oligarchs.

– It was a bit troublesome. Many had a hard time because of this, says Tangen.

– Do you understand the reactions to the project?

– Art always divides. It happens in all countries. You just have to respect that.

– Destroyed the exchange of words

Einar Øgrey Brandsdal does not want to comment on the case and his role in Sørlandsnyheten now in retrospect.

Tronn Hansen was for a short period Sørlandsnyheten’s named editor, hired by Brandsdal.

Hansen wanted to contribute to a new, serious newspaper.

But:

– Art silo was the focus, almost without exception. I had to ask whether we should be a regular newspaper or just be the “silo newspaper”, says Hansen, who gave up after three weeks.

He believes that the Sørland news in the time afterwards contributed to the destruction of the exchange of words, creating deep wounds and violent polarization.

Nils Nilsen ran the Sørland news and does not agree.

– It is not correct. It was Kunstsilo and its champions who created a toxic exchange of words and polarization. And the media and many others, says Nilsen.

– How do these nine years from 2015 to opening appear?

– As a major breach of the society of trust we live in. A manifested lack of culture.

– Are you going to visit Kunstsilo?

– Yes of course. I will go there a lot. It’s not the art I’m against, but the process.

Silo and heart fibrillation

CEO of Kunstsilo Reidar Fuglestad had management experience from both Color Line and Dyreparken.

In 2017, he became manager of the Kunstsilo building project.

He should get to see the difference between commercial tourism and art projects with public money.

– It became special for us with a very intense hunt for individuals and conspiracy theories. It was a strain for many, and I got my share, says the director.

He had health problems.

– In 2019 it peaked with a high stress level and a flickering state in the body. It ended with an operation. The body probably said it, says Fuglestad.

He acknowledges that things could have been done differently.

– Yes, for sure. When you are attacked from all sides, you have to decide where to respond and to whom. We have not commented on anything on social media. We had little resources and opted out of something, says Fuglestad.

He believes several factors explain the harsh debate climate.

– We received a collection from Nicolai Tangen. It was suspected. On the other side, there was a desire to overthrow the political regime, which they succeeded in doing. Art silo became one of the symbolic cases.

Boost for the Democrats

The local elections in 2019 were a political earthquake with tremendous progress for the protest parties.

The major parties lost.

In Kristiansand, the Democrats got a record 13.4 percent.

Conservative mayor Harald Furre had to go.

NRK’s ​​political commentator Lars Nehru Sand followed the debate in his hometown.

– The art silo case gradually became bigger than itself. There were constant political rounds with grants and the matter lived for a long time, says Sand.

He believes the Democrats picked up a lot of discontent.

– There were local cases where contradictions arose between “the people” and an alleged elite. Kunstsilo became an exponent of it all. It was easy to decide on, and basically a bit peripheral in people’s everyday lives, says Sand.

Jan Oddvar Skisland (Ap) was appointed mayor.

It was a troubled city council period with constant tug-of-war, among other things about the municipality’s support for the operation of Kunstsilo.

In the autumn of 2023, voters announced that they wanted more normal conditions in politics.

And on Odderøya, a silo took more and more shape as a museum.

– Break the code

Over five years of rehabilitation and rebuilding.

5,500 works of art.

Launched in London before Christmas. Kunstsilo has since invested in similar events in Paris, Berlin, The Hague, Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Now all that remains is to fill the Kunstsilo with visitors.

Director Fuglestad hopes the public will experience Kunstsilo as a building for everyone.

– We want to lower the threshold and invite and include. It is important that many people want to come.

– And what do you say to people who think art is for the “elite”?

– They are on to something. The industry has a challenge with everything from opening hours to how to convey art to people who are initially not that interested in art.

The director of the country’s most famous former grain silo says exactly that will be an important job in the future.

– It will be a task for us to crack that code.