Converge 45 is a Portland visual art event with strong curation. It was created to bring internationally acclaimed contemporary artists to Portland. It was created to create interactions between noted Portland artists and international artists. It was designed in an arc around curator Kristy Edmunds. This is the culmination of that arc for you to see.
The acclaimed guest artists have never had major shows in Portland. Ann Hamilton in a lyric minimal installationist. I've found her works simple and rich enough to not require an idea to stand on their own. For instance, Accountings, at the Henry, engaged textures underfoot, the smell of wax, and the sound of birds along with obsessively labored visual elements, the movement of birds, their droppings and South American ritual objects. Seattle has always had more commissioning resources and they have been working with Hamilton on another big project on the pier. Portland gets a more modest variation of her Armory project Event of a Thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fJ4umqXGjM: a series of swings activating curtains of shear cloth amidst poetic sound recordings. That evolved into Habitus, with an open source of collected readings, https://habitus-a-commonplace.tumblr.com/. Habitus is installed at the Centennial Mills ruin. It opens 2PM-5 Friday, followed by a talk 6:30 at Reed. The installation is open Friday – Sunday, 3PM-7, August 10 – September 16. Free. That area is not convenient for parking, so consider walking, biking and transit.
Jenny Holzer is a minimal word artist. She made the LED reader board her canvas akin to Barbra Krugers Life Magazine style printed word works. She has expanded her material canvas to architectural projections, billboard trucks and words on graffiti-style canvases. Her early work was aphorism-inspired; it's sharpened its political and social point over time. This show is a large collection of prints lent by the Jordan Schnitzer museum.It opens Thursday 5PM-7 with the artist speaking at 6. It is at PNCA and viewable PNCA gallery hours after. All free.
King School Museum of Contemporary Art has an international exhibition opening in the 15 NE Hancock apace Friday 4PM-7.
There are other free events through the weekend on the project website.
Converge 45, converge45.org. Various locations and times. Free