Restoration at Silo City 2020
Restoration at Silo City 2020
Restoration at Silo City is the product of a partnership between Buffalo Arts Studio and Silo City. Both Buffalo Arts Studio and Silo City have a long history of supporting the creation of innovative, site-specific visual, performing, and literary artwork. Restoration at Silo City includes three site-specific installations that restore, regenerate, and reimagine the land and the detritus that remains on the site.
Silo City is a collection of three grain elevators on Silo City Row owned by Rick Smith who dubbed the site “Silo City.” Silo City has a long history of supporting the creation of innovative, site-specific visual, performing, and literary artwork. This group of silo complexes has been transformed from industrial ruins into a unique and fantastic cultural space. Silo City Director of Ecology, Josh Smith, is actively regenerating the former industrial site. Soils are enlivened with compost produced on site, made with 110 tons of food waste diverted from landfills each year. Meandering trails allow visitors to observe and experience the grounds, the monoliths of the silos providing a striking backdrop for a variety of creative activities. This bend of the Buffalo River — where Silo City is seated — was part of the historic Buffalo Creek Reservation, and home to regional indigenous populations for centuries prior to its use for grain storage and milling. We acknowledge the deep history of this land, we give thanks for our current stewardship, and we welcome all to the site.
Avye Alexandres, The Balance of Air
Avye Alexandres was born in Athens, Greece, and moved to the United States at the age of six. Her work investigates the psychological ramifications of structures and space. Evolving from a background in photography, and theatre, her work encompasses immersive sculpture, locative media, and experimental digital narratives. In 2015 she graduated with an MFA in Art and Emerging Practices from the University at Buffalo and was the 2016 recipient of the Oseroff Memorial Purchase Award from Roswell Park Cancer Institute and CEPA Gallery. She has exhibited nationally and at venues such as the Burchfield Penney Art Center, The Soap Factory, and the Weismann Art Museum.
Jozef Bajus, Floating Echoes
Originally from Slovakia, Jozef Bajus received his MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, (AFAD), Bratislava. Bajus is an Associate Professor at SUNY Buffalo State College, and serves as the Coordinator of the Fibers/Design Program. Bajus focuses on eco-activist art, believing that art can and should actually change the environment for the better. His work consistently reimagines the detritus of contemporary culture.
Gareth Lichty, Celastrus Scandens
Steel and American Bittersweet, 36′ x 26′ x 12′
Gareth Lichty’s sculptural practice consists of manipulating manufactured and natural materials such as garden hose, construction fence, field marking tape, grass sod and non-invasive plants. Referring to the vernacular of suburban infrastructure and exploring industrial and handmade techniques, Lichty creates structures through repetition, materiality, and scale. His working methods come from thousands of hours of careful and sustained labor drawn from his training as an athlete and his experience working in assembly line manufacturing factories. His work explores mass-production, manufacturing processes, and post-industrial spaces using ubiquitous materials to render large-scale structures.
Additional Programming
Restoration at Silo City programming also included a workshop series on creating environmentally responsible public art led by artist Jozef Bajus (Buffalo, NY; Slovakia) with teaching assistants from our Expanding the Leadership Pipeline program. Additionally, Buffalo Arts Studio hosts a panel discussion titled Art Ecologies: Understanding the Environmental Impact of Public Art featuring regional artists who consciously select materials and processes to minimize their own environmental impact. Panelists included artist Jozef Bajus, who focuses on eco-activist art, Joshua Smith, Director of Ecology at Silo City, and Alexis Oltmer who created a conceptual body of artwork that elevated plastic pollution imagery, data, and samples collected over 40 individual beach cleanups. The discussion can be viewed here.
