Radio is magic. I'm an engineer, with deep specialization in the field. Even to me it is magic, though not in its mechanics, but in the ethnographies of its application. The first radio receivers were crystal radios. The same principal then, the electrical properties of rocks, is at work today in microchips of ultra purified sand. Artist Stephanie Symek is interested in the magic of radio too. She has made an art installation, Radio Room, of a crystal radio and other artifacts, such as rare earth magnets, of her own construction.
Rogue Waves is geometric op art illustration by Nathanael Thayer Moss. It is a pun; op art is a visual system artifact, not produced by [wave] diffraction.
Safe & Sound? is a video installation and website by Portland community members, journalists and artists Julie Perini, Jodi Darby, Erin Yanke, Amelia Cates, Christopher Hamann and Ian Wallace. Its theme is the power relationship between police and community. The creators also participate in a discussion: Socially & Politically Engaged Art, Sunday, May 19th 4PM-6 in the gallery.
Off the Plain is a group show curated by TJ Norris including artists Ben Buswell, Brooks Dierdorff, Jacqueline Ehlis, Melanie Flood, Ted Hiebert, Harrison Higgs, Tricia Hoffman, Joshua Kim, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Sarah Knobel, Elizabeth Papadopoulos, Richard Schemmerer, Michael Sell, Jennifer Vaughn, Chao Wang, Colleen Woolper and Bea Nettles.
All at Place, www.placepdx.com a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall along with the People's art of Portland and the Woolley Gallery. If the mall appears closed, enter the film theater building adjacent, travel through the tunnel to the Place mall, and take the elevator to the 3rd floor, sometimes the bridge on the 3rd floor is open too. 700 SW Fifth. 5PM-9 Free
At the same location, the Mark Woolley Gallery and People's Art of Portland will likely be eventing.
There is a theory that it is a universal human need to get high. People climb mountains, trees, fly and even go into space to slip the surly bonds of earth. People like to dance too. Combine them and you have aerial dance.
Early aerial dance in Portland was established by Do Jump, with a focus on children's classes. Robert Davidson, a national pioneer in aerial choreography, choreographed a scene for the Portland Center Stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Davidson created a lyrical work informed by Skinner Releasing Technique. A performers in those works spread branches through a series of Portland dance units: Aero Betty, Pendulum and AWOL. It is the brave desire of these performers to get high and our pleasure to be audience to them.
AWOL, Aerial Without Limits, opens their studios this evening for a student performance at a very reasonable price. At AWOL www.awoldance.org 2303 N Randolph, back of building, enter at A-WOL door in gravel lot. Tickets http://www.awoldance.org/2013/05/a-wol-2013-student-showcase/ 7PM $5
In art, annuals, biennials and other periodic competitive group shows are olympics. They are not scored, but they are curated. The curator, with their singular vision, sifts thousands of artists to select a handful. Once upon a time, the Portland Art Museum hosted a biennial group show. It was a bold move: it is unusual for collecting museums to be interested in the local region. They have little incentive to do so in the museum value system. The local focus here was driven by philanthropists the Schnitzers. Arleen Schnitzer had one of the first art galleries in Portland, the Fountain, operating from 1961-1977. Local and regional collectors, the Schnitzers, have been a strong force in encouraging the museum to collect locally and engage the local art community. The Oregon biennial relocated a few years ago from the Museum to Disjecta. In a bold and savvy move, Disjecta has invited an out of town curator, Amanda Hunt, based in LA and operating internationally, to select the 2014 biennial. Her resume is on the Disjecta website.
Tonight there is a reception for Hunt, an opportunity to sense her aesthetic interests in person. She will be introduced by Disjecta curator Summer Guthery, with a short Q&A. At 923 NW Flanders 6PM Free
