This old building has been a haven to artists. Blue Sky and the Nine was there between the Old Town WebMD space and their current. Jeff Jahn did a pop up there, Biomass.
Now it is Mono Space, sort of like a listening bar in Japan, or au courant social listening rooms in museums, like SFMOMA.
Listening bars emerged in 1920s Japan, home to small apartments that can't play loud. https://www.tokyoweekender.com/entertainment/music/a-guide-to-japanese-listening-bars/ They have a fetish for vintage audio design, large JBL, sometimes vacuum tubes, vinyl. Portland has 2 I know of, Sonder and Decibel.
Devon Turnbull https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/style/devon-turnbull-ojas-speakers.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZE8.SsEh.4_F_LoRwtZVU&smid=url-share is a NYC graffiti artist and clothing designer who has fallen into bespoke limited edition production of those same vintage audio designs with his company OJAS.
He builds speakers from old JBL/Altec designs, tube amps, collaborates with Denon, a Japanese company dating to 1910, and makes all the connecting gadgetry, in bland mono colors. They are expensive collectors items.
The vintage speakers are very efficient which is good because tube amplifiers are very inefficient. These large speakers were developed for movie theaters, and hidden behind the screen. They are much more powerful that necessary for most rooms, but people like the retro looks.
One installation of Turnbull is Dream No. 1 at the Lisson Gallery, NY & London. His showroom is in USM Modular Furniture, SoHo.
He has a room in SFMOMA. https://www.sfmoma.org/devon-turnbull-listening-room-schedule/
Britt Howard designed all of the fabric seatting and her Portland Garment Factory fabricated it.
Portland bookstore Chess Club has their own version of a vintage Altec system. There is another listening pop up based around vintage Bang and Olufsen hifi gear.
Mono Space has a listening session today, including DJ Yúco, 2PM-3. Modern vinyl store Passenger Seat is also supporting.
At Mono Space https://mono-space.org/ 608 NW 13th Ave Ste 102. 11AM-5PM Free (ring buzzer for entry)
Good Wood Wood Goods sells upcycled wood. They have a Summer art show by
Nial Nutter, Christopher Belluschi, Chriskall Myer, and Jay Nelson.
At Good Wood https://goodwoodportland.com/ 205 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. 6PM-9 Free
No offical opening known, but the principal, Mathew Henderson, of Virtua Gallery shows their sculptures.
“The new show features new and old/modified artworks constituting a crescendo in my physical art making process. A new love language is emerging: exotic teardowns transfigured into techno-botanical floral arrangements, hybrid objects invoking anachronistic futurism, puzzling e-waste taxonomies shown on faux-natural surfaces… “
At Virtua_Gal at Lloyd Mall Suite B216. It is in the former Lady Foot Locker, second level, above Zumiez and Hot Topic. Free
