Nationale is a small store and art presenter with an international network. Tonight they activate their oh so Finnish network. Finland occupies a cool reserve in design and art between the other Scandinavian countries and Russia. It's the home of Nokia, mobile phone pioneer, and a leader until recently, in ethnographic research on our mobile connected life. And while smart phones are cool, Nokia has been rocking Internet access through feature phones on sub$10 a month carrier contracts around the world. Tonight Elina Tuhkanen presents her sculpture performances Pilose Crux. Schooled in the US and Finland, Tuhkanen is fascinated by the Finnish landscape. Her films are performances in that landscape. She shows them tonight and engages the audience in discussion. She also will be at Nationale Friday 6PM-9. At Hollywood Theatre www.hollywoodtheatre.org 7PM $5
Chris Johanson engages a small part of the big institution tonight. It's part of the Museum's program in which a working Portland artist selects a single piece from the exhibited collection around which to craft a narrative for you, the participants. It could be interesting as Johanson would have been considered an outsider artist pre-his participation in the 2002 Whitney Biennial. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 6PM-8 $5 members, otherwise regular admission $12 so tour the Museum before
Appendix, one of Portland's most adventurous galleries, and maxing back alley cred, presents Paragon+ by NY artist Katie Shelly. Some interesting ideas in her Foo Camp-thought like copywriting award of the month.
"Paragon+ is an absolute installation about the ever-arriving fantasy of digital utopia. In an idyllic future where technology enables everyday people to oust dictators, to fully fund a feature film in a week, or to be (tele)present on all five continents at once, how does an ideal citizen look? Thought leaders often map social ideals onto the human form. If 19th and 20th century societies were embodied by archetypes like the yeoman-farmer, the artisan-scholar, and the citizen-soldier, will the 21st century paragon be a hacker-amputee? A videographer-coder-forager? Serene & despotic, Paragon+ suggests that a dematerialized future includes a drastic re-visualization of the body politic."
At Appendix Project Space. On the alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. www.appendixspace.com Map 7PM-10ish Free
