Since 2018, there has been a huge battle in Kristiansand over the infamous Kunstsiloen. This led to an oral surgery that has rarely been seen in the southern village.
– A historic day! declares a committed Einar Øgrey Brandsdal in a post on Facebook, where he explains that he has apologized to the head of the Art Silo Museum in Kristiansand, Reidar Fuglestad.
In an interview a little over three years ago, it was a completely different tone. In an interview with Nettavisen, Brandsdal said that it was «Norwegian history’s largest robbery of community funds».
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In the latest news from the art silo the project has ended up with a staggering price tag of as much as 600 million kroner. It is after several rounds of overruns. In addition, SKMU (Sørlandet Art Museums), which is responsible for the project, informs that they will have to cut both employees and opening hours.
In Kristiansand, Brandsdal has become a figure who has stood against the political majority, and hammered loose on social media against politicians’ spending.
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In the long Facebook post, Brandsdal explains that he has been reconciled with the art silo through a meeting with the museum director, with the good help of Start director Terje Marcussen.
– There have been major exceedances and maybe there will be even more. We do not know what it will end up with, but it is certain that it will come. A lot could probably have been done differently, but done is done and eaten is eaten, Brandsdal writes.
He explains that he had first contacted Start director Terje Marcussen to be able to have a conversation with the museum director, and that he understood the commitment behind it. It is not long before the formal opening of the new museum, which will exhibit, among other things, the art collection of oil fund manager Nicolai Tangen, which has been handed over to a foundation.
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At the end of the post, Brandsdal emphasizes:
– This does not mean that I have turned the matter around regarding my view on the use of money for the art silo. It is now approved and soon finished, and then you have some choices. Should one get annoyed or try to see the positive in this museum? he asks, adding:
– What I have done is to start saying to myself in my head and close friends that the building as it now appears has become very cool, and that it will actually be a unique building. Very expensive of course, but it will be a great building. The struggle to stop the art silo is also over a long time ago and it is lost. So therefore I choose to be positive, he writes.
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