The Wisconsin Project: July 2014

27.7.14

Harvestore Dealership Sign, New Holstein, WI

Former Harvestore Dealership Sign (Lakeside), Hayton Road near New Holstein, Wisconsin (2.21.2014)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

The American Revolution Commission, established in 1966, called on all people and communities across the country to do something to celebrate the US Bicentennial in 1976. Harvestore contributed to the "spirit" by adding US flags to their structures, which towered over the rural landscape in increasing numbers. Rural legend had it that the flag on Harvestores signified it was paid for. A reliable source claims that in fact the flags were Harvestore's contribution to the Bicentennial celebration. After Vietnam and Nixon's resignation, the Bicentennial inspired nostalgia, patriotism, and "looking to the future with hope" as Nixon himself proclaimed in a speech years before Watergate. Decades later we found this Harvestore still decorated with the flag while being repurposed as a sign for a rural contracting company.

20.7.14

Found: View from Memorial Bridge, Appleton, WI

Found: View taken from Memorial Bridge across the Fox River at Appleton, Wisconsin.
Photo & Published by G. R. Brown Co., Rt. 5, Eau Claire, WI 54703-9990. Circa 1980s.

Found: Three States View, Iowa-Illinois, Wisconsin, from Eagle Point Park, Dubuque.
Published by Buettell Brothers Company, Dubuque, Iowa. Circa 1930s.

These views of rivers are "taken" from built structures revealing scenes of contrast. On the one hand, the river flowing through the landscape and on the other the buildings, docks, and gateways enabling human access.

11.7.14

Harvestores/Lake Michigan, Cleveland, WI

The iconic blue Harvestore® silo or "structure" was the ultimate vertical vessel design for fermented silage (animal feed). Made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by A.O. Smith as an extension of its glass-fused-to-steel technology first used in hot water heaters and beer brewing tanks, the Harvestore became a symbol of progressive, technology-savvy farm practices. From 1949 until 1984, Harvestores were going up all over Wisconsin and other places in North America--then sales bottomed-out due to an economic downturn. More than 75,000 Harvestores were sold in that time. A.O. Smith sold Harvestore in January 2001 after various consolidation efforts. Throughout the 1970s though, farmers took on debt to erect the once prestigious silos. By the 21^st century, feed storage went horizontal to ag-bags and covered piles preferred by industrial-sized dairy operations. Mechanical problems with the Harvestore bottom unloader plagued farmers and Harvestore. Slowly, the structures transgressed from state-of-the-art to relic. You still see them glinting on the horizon throughout Wisconsin though with fewer and fewer being used. Many are being torn down due to safety concerns. In collaboration with Worm Farm Institute/Fermentation Fest/Dtour, parts of a salvaged Harvestore® may rise out of the ashes as a Band Shell in October 2014...

THE WISCONSIN PROJECT

Our research-driven Wisconsin Project contemplates the rooted-ness and state-of-mind resulting from inhabiting a single place, our native Wisconsin, for a long time. Through critiquing postcard views both made and found, we learn a great deal about past and present Wisconsin. We began making postcard views of the places immediately around our studio and on our drives around Wisconsin in about 2008. We use the vintage postcard film format and print the cards in palladium and cyanotype. By communicating details of a specific place, seeming to register only marginally on the national radar, the project seeks to bring audiences into a Wisconsin mental space. Some in the art world would argue that the Midwest, particularly Wisconsin, makes for banal “fly over” subject matter. Our project challenges that by finding meaning in the ordinary and inviting audiences to examine, dialog, and reflect on the particular emotional quality of the idiosyncrasies of place and the perceptions of those both inside and outside of it. Sometimes distant memories are involved and a longing for a time now gone. Wisconsin’s glacier inflected landscape and proximity to the Great Lakes creates an exotic arena for living that informs our project. The life cycle plays out and rural and urban ruins serve as monuments to existences as people, places, and ideas surface then vanish. Ultimately, we aim to grapple with complex perceptions of Wisconsin ranging from nostalgic, romantic, and idealized--as depicted on myriad real photo postcard and standard tourist postcards--to mysterious, dark, and Gothic as conveyed in works of art and literature such as Michael Lesy's "Wisconsin Death Trip" book and Werner Herzog's "Stroszek" film. The project culminated in a residency with workshops and community collaborations and the installation "We Go From Where We Know" at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center 10.13.2013-3.7.2014 and later the Harvestore Bandshell for Fermentation Fest in 10.2014. The blog continues the exploration of postcards.