Box Vox

packaging as content

«
»

October 29, 2010

Steampunk Brewing Sculpture

FinishedBrewSculpt Photo by Mike Shane for the Staten Island Advance

Scott Van Campen & Mark Zappasodi’s COAHSI-supported “Brewing as Art” project: a portable, steampunk-style brewery.

If you are in the NYC area tomorrow you would be well advised to attend their opening —(at The Nobel Maritime Museum at Snug Harbor, Staten Island: Tomorrow, Saturday October 30th at 7 pm… directions)— where this beer-making sculpture will be put through its paces:

20 Gallons of FREE CRAFT BEER provided by New Brighton Brewing: “Maritime Ale”, “Dusseldorf Old Ale”, and Staten Island Brewfest Bronze Metal Winner “Ginger Foot Saison” will be served until the kegs are tapped!

Brewing as Art blog

I first heard of this project last year when I met Mark Zappasodi and happily consumed some of his home-brewed beer. It sounded to me like a radical gallery project along the lines of Helmut Smit’s “The Real Thing” installation (a machine that converts Coca-Cola into clean drinking water) or Wim Delvoye’s “Cloaca” (a digestion/defecation machine).

What I hadn’t realized at the time was that “brewing sculptures” were an established practice in home brewing circles:

A brew sculpture is a structure that holds the various vessels… used in all grain brewing. One of the major advantages to using a sculpture is that it normalizes the brewing process allowing for a smoother brew day and reducing setup and tear down time. Vessel to vessel connections can be made somewhat permanently and optional devices like pumps and chillers can be mounted as well. Most sculptures are made as compact as possible and feature castors/wheels to tuck it out of the way between brew sessions. The variance of design is limited only by the brewer's imagination, budget, and fabrication skills.

HomeBrewTalk.com

Most “brewing sculptures,” however, are highly practical affairs—DIY engineering projects for making beer, never intended for exhibition—and certainly not funded by any public arts organizations!

For their brewing sculpture, Campen & Zappasodi clearly paid unusual attention to certain aesthetic details…

Brewing-as-art

Regarding its steampunk vibe, Campen says, “I think the overall aesthetic of using that sort of Victorian style, it sort of evolved from the original discussion we had about how to tie in the history of brewing of Staten Island 150 years ago”

(Another photo, after the fold…)


Shane-669 Photo by Mike Shane for the Staten Island Advance

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Comments are closed.