March 1 Hyenas

I have seen hyenas in the wild. They are a disturbing, opportunistic predator.

A favorite film shows today at noon. It is Hyenas, based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt's the Visit of the Old Lady. The play is often recontextualized to new times and places. This, by Djibril Diop Mambety, it is a tragedy set amid stunning production design in Senegal. Some plot elements parallel critiques of World Bank activities in Africa.

It is said that there are only a few plots. The protagonist leaves town, the protagonist arrives in town. The Visit is the protagonist who left town, and returns to town, for revenge. The final revenge is a small death, but the enormity of contributing revenge is epic.

Playwright Dürrenmatt/Duerrenmatt is known for his tragicomedies. Three stand out. This is the most tragic, though the dialog is subtile and there is scattered humor.

The most humorous of his plays is Romulus the Great. The protagonist is a fictional last emperor of Rome. He encourages its fall to barbarians because he believes it corrupt. In the end, it is revealed the barbarians are invading to adopt the culture of the empire.

In the middle is The Physicists. It is a meditation on the responsibility of scientists and engineers for the commercial application of their individual work. Let's just say this has been one of my projects over years. I have had some successes. But in the play, the dénouement is the utter failure of ethics against commerce.

This is a fine rare film to see.

Hyenas at the Cascade Festival of African Films. At PCC Cascade Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building, Room 104. 705 N Killingsworth. Noon Free

February 28 Warm, Even, In Real Life

Keith J. Varadi and Rebecca R. Peel are visual artists and curators. Tonight they do readings: Warm, Even. More info on the gallery website. At Adams and Ollman Gallery, the second of two members of the New Art Dealers Alliance www.newartdealers.org, www.adamsandollman.com 209 SW 9th 6PM Free


In person openings are the coin of the creative realm in Portland, like irl///onlineonly at Surplus Space tonight. Tonight is PSU MFA students, accompanied by artist interviews and social media archives. The series rotates weekly through March with artists from different schools each weekend. At Surplus Space www.SurplusSpace.info 3726 NE 7th 6PM-9 Free

February 27 Urban Outdoor

Outdoor clothing retailer Evo operates a small gallery of art by artists connected to the outdoor industry. It tends to run to urban as does the store vibe. Tonight they have illustration by Stefan Hofmann, half of Spaceraft which produces graphic screened clothing for EVO. At Evo outdoor store, 200 SE Martin Luther King Blvd. 6PM-9 Free

February 26 Media, Art, Performance

Artist Kristin Lucas works in performance, video and other electronic media. She is fairly prolific. She discusses her work this evening at the art school. At PNCA www.pnca.edu 511 NW Broadway Map 6:30PM

February 24: How I Broke My Brain and Changed My Mind

Josh Berger speaks on brain injury. His own. As a result of a bicycle accident. Yes he was wearing a helmet.

He is a well known brand strategist and designer, you probably know him. His talk tonight is on his journey over the two and a half years since his injury.

A presentation of the Curiosity Club, you can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site, see the video archive on the Hand Eye Supply Website or visit the talk and demonstration in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 427 NW Broadway 6PM Free

February 21 On Masculinism

In 1978, structuralists Anthony McCall and Andrew Tyndall created the experimental film Argument. Inspired by Godard and Gorin’s Letter to Jane, it considered the image and expectations of men hidden in a then current edition of the New York Times.

The film was screened with discussions, post, by the audience. It is still relevant, and today's showing includes discussion too.

A longer fascinating explanation is on the project FB https://www.facebook.com/zenazezzaprojects/posts/1541514609461129:0.

At 1857 Hallock & McMillan, 253 SW Naito Parkway. Film noon. $7 general, $5 students, artists, seniors

February 20 Key Figures

Key Figures is a group show by self-taught artists that are better than average like Chris Bradley, Vaginal Davis, Luc Fuller, Arnold Joseph Kemp, Brian Kokoska, Michael Lazarus, Gladys Nilsson, Misleidys Francisca Castillo Pedroso and Brion Nuda Rosch. At Adams and Ollman Gallery, the second of two members of the New Art Dealers Alliance www.newartdealers.org, www.adamsandollman.com 209 SW 9th 6PM-9 Free

February 11 Be There Salon

The Sum of Its Parts is the first gallery salon by Jeffrey Thomas. The first Portland contemporary art gallery was Arlene Schnitzer's Fountain Gallery which became the Laura Russo Gallery. The second was his.

Thomas was coprincipal, with William Jamison, in that second Portland contemporary art gallery, the Jamison Thomas Gallery. www.jeffreythomasfineart.com 2219 NW Raleigh 6PM-9 Free

February 6 Eastside Openings

Building construction is serious and costly business. It is visually rich and understandable on inspection. So it's a ripe situation to make art of.

Tori Abernathy stages a construction intervention in HQHQ Project Space including activist discussions February 24th-26th by the Portland Renters' Assembly.

Tonight and throughout the month the artist injects a tactic of play and the female into the HQHQ construction site in an intervention Make Yourself At Home.

At HQHQ Project Space hq-objective.info 232 SE Oak St #108 6PM-9 Free



Film can be finicky. Add to that uncontrollable accidents. It's a good way to get art. Myles Katherine is prone to using double exposure in a Holga plastic lens camera. Her work is centered on clothing and models in a dream style that works. At Haunt www.hauntstudio.blogspot.com 811 E Burnside Suite #113 6PM-8


Portland does have a map GIS map community. And Portland has a wood craft community. Don Lee combines both vectors into his Woodmaping artwork. In the back of the building, Sarah Landa shows photographs, viewable 24x7. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside 6PM-9:30 Free


Black Box has a group black and white photo show. At Black Box Gallery www.blackboxgallery.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 212 upstairs 5PM-8 Free


All at 811 East Burnside Map



Eutectic Gallery has Stoked, wood-fired ceramics. They are fired from our wood here and fired around the world by their wood there. That makes them carbon neutral! Wood-fired ceramics, the first fired ceramics date back to ancient China and Japan. Several Japanese artists visit to present their work. At Eutectic Gallery www.eutecticgallery.com 1930 NE Oregon 6PM-9 Free



We all know the Internet is overcrowded with cats! Carli Davidson has photos, Shake, of dogs doing exactly that, captured by high speed flash. So they might look a little odd, but they are happy for sure. At Pushdot Studio www.pushdotstudio.com 2505 SE 11th Avenue Suite 104 6PM- Free



Ghost Town is a photography show by young photographer Kyle Thompson. At One Grand Gallery www.onegrandgallery.com 1000 E Burnside 6PM-10 Free



Radical Color is a group photography show, just when we need color. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th Map 6PM-9 Free

February 6 - March 8 Cascade Festival of African Films

The Cascade Festival of African Films has been running for 25 years. All showings are free! The opening night is at the Hollywood Theater. The rest of the festival is on the PCC Cascade Campus on N Killingsworth. You can see their schedule www.africanfilmfestival.org/calendar/, the description of the films www.africanfilmfestival.org/films/ then plan your free Thursday - Sunday viewing schedule. For free! Did I say it is free! Absolutely! The Cascade Festival of African Film at PCC Cascade Campus www.africanfilmfestival.org/venues/pcc-cascade/ in the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building, Room 104. Check the website for days and times. Free

February 5 Westside Openings

It is still somewhat dark, many galleries are closing early, or promptly.

Words, Words, Words is a group show loosely themed on text placing regional artists beside international artists. Artists represented are Ghada Amer, Lisa Anne Auerbach, John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Pat Boas, Mel Bochner, Andrea Bowers, Peter Downsbrough, Jenny Holzer, Chris Johanson, Barbara Kruger, Michael Lazarus, Glenn Ligon, Bruce Nauman, Melody Owen, Matthew Picton, Jack Pierson, Jaume Plensa, Michelle Ross, Ed Ruscha, Buzz Spector and Lawrence Weiner. At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th Map 6PM-9 Free



My Dakota is a landscape photography series by Rebecca Norris Webb. It was made as she was processing a personal family loss. Origins of Emotions by Monika Merva is a minimal exploration of family. In the Nines Gallery Bill Will, always a wry installationist has Love Thy Neighbor. It is about short range missile warfare. There is a theory that if individuals had weapons of mass destruction, they would use them on their neighbors, which is not farfetched. What's next? Drones? At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 6PM-9 Free



Jeremy Rotsztain shows electric fields, digital paintings and Oculus Rift experiences. Some of the work is generative, created by software algorithms once removed from the painterly hand. It has parallels to the indirect work in social practice art, albeit with less soul, but more visual appeal. At UpFor Gallery www.upforgallery.com 929 NW Flanders 6PM-9 Free



Something is wrong with Yu Suda is the namesake, Yu Suda's work inspired by history brought up to date. At Hellion Gallery www.helliongallery.com in their new space 15 NW 5th. 6PM-10 Free



W+K has large group murals, looking like something from the Pictoplasma conference, big and bright. At W+K www.wk.com 224 NW 13th Map 5PM-9 Free



Ok, Cupid? is a group show on modern love inspired by the world of online lust and romance. At Fifty 24PDX in Upperplayground.com 23 NW 5th 6PM-10 Free


Becoming What Was is a group show by current PNCA MFA students Candace Jahn, Marisa Lee, Kelly McGovern and Micah Schmelzer. At Duplex Collective www.duplexcollective.com 219 NW Couch 6PM-9



Augen has a group show by gallery artists Mark Andres, Sharon Bronzan, Sally Cleveland, Arless Day, Karen Esler, Trish Grantham, Pamela Green, Jef Gunn, Chris Kelly, Jim Riswold, Sara Siestreem and Mary Wells. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis early close 8



Joe Rudko has Picturesque, minimal work that started as photographs. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM Free



Everett Lofts are recommended as always. It's easier for you to see them all than for me to write suggestions. Some close as early as 9PM. At the Everett Lofts 625 NW Everett. Bounded by NW Everett, Broadway, Flanders and 6th Map closing ranges to 9PMish

January 31 Last Night Raw Caldera Vision

We would not have today's "outsider art" movement if artists like the Reverend Howard Finster had not been "discovered" in the late 1970s and curated into the NY art world in the early 1980s, as a response to Wall Street-driven excesses in the New York art world. William Jamison and Mark Woolley were early on the phenomena in Portland.

Reverend Howard Finster's work stands on its own, of course. Opening this evening, it can be seen in a small selection in Portland at the Portland Museum of Modern Art. PMOMA has been inspired by outsider and visionary art, including that of Chris Johanson, and they are the hosts for the late Finster's work. Finster also created a prodigious collection of sound recordings before he passed in 2001.

His story is fascinating. The work is individualistic. It is well worth seeing.

Ural Thomas will perform his music for the opening, always a pleasure.

Howard Finster at the Portland Museum of Modern Art inside Mississippi Records www.portlandmuseumofmodernart.com 5202 N Albina Map 8PM-10



It's The Last Night On Earth Again (Other People Are Also You) is a show by Michael Fish, Michael Horwitz, Matthew Leavitt, Heiko Julien, Karl Sims, Jack Fisher, Shiloh O'Connor, Walter Davis, Corwin Peck, Austin Kelley Way, Sadashiva Stavrum, Rachel Bell, Jia Gy and Kai Nollie. It should fill up Surplus Space. Somehow it is inspired by Terrence McKenna. At Surplus Space www.SurplusSpace.info 3726 NE 7th 6PM-9 Free



Caldera artists in residence Amy Bonnaffons, Glendaliz Camacho, Sonja Dahl, Jeff Leake, Tamara Lynne, Kaila Farrell-Smith and John Whitten invite you to Blue Lake to see their work. It is a special space. The studios will also be open February 28 and March 28. At Camp Caldera www.calderaarts.org, 31500 Blue Lake Drive, Sisters, OR 1PM-3 Free

January 30 KOMA Soma

For many music is soma. Like me.

Portland's music synthesizer store Control Voltage often has in-store demonstration performances. KOMA Elektronik does that this evening, demonstrates their personal quadraphonic helmet and lets you jam on their machines.

Which sounds cool.

Synthesizer demonstration https://www.facebook.com/events/790628231018190 at Control Voltage www.controlvoltage.net 3742 NE Mississippi 6PM Free

January 29 Blue Rain

The Taureg is a traditionally nomadic ethnic group spanning the Sahel and the Sahara South to North. That would be Mali, Niger, Libya, Algeria. Close your eyes and imagine their music. Ethnomusicologist Chris Kirkley travels there regularly, collecting music. He launches his first film project tonight.

Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai, in English: "Rain the Color of Blue with a little Red in it", tells the story of Taureg musician Mdou Moctar. It is inspired by the film Purple Rain. It's probably the first Taureg-American joint film production in history.

Film at the Hollywood Theater www.hollywoodtheatre.org 4122 NE Sandy Boulevard. 7PM $8

January 27 Mission Statement Human Radiance

MSHR usually performs installations in galleries and alternative art spaces. Tonight they do a club. With The Tenses (Smegma), Matt Carlson and Noor. At Holocene www.holocene.org 1001 SE Morrison. Doors 8:30PM $5

January 26 Shake It

The Bright Lights series is usually about building things. Tonight it is a discussion of what Portland would be like after the big earthquake.

About every 200-900 years, the tectonic plate we sit on, the North American Plate, slides over the Juan de Fuca plate off our coast as it is driven East by upswelling at its juncture with the Pacific plate. The last time was January 26, 1700 at 9PM. It is a subduction fault which generates megathrust earthquakes of greater than 9.0 and tsunamis. The under layer is locked by friction with the over layer. Once there is enough pressure, it slips.

The Fukishima (Tōhoku) earthquake was a megathrust. Not only was it great in magnitude, it lasted for a long six minutes. The Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, creating the great Pacific tsunami in 2004, lasted for 10 minutes. It's not clear that any modern construction will be able to withstand a strong, long earthquake unharmed.

Beyond building physics, there is the human response.

For a discussion of that Carmen Merlo, Portland’s director of emergency management and Joe Zehnder, Portland’s chief planner speak this evening.

Portland earthquake discussion at the Mercy Corps Action Center www.actioncenter.org 28 SW 1st. 7PM Free

January 25 Shifting Practice

Marylhurst has a panel discussion at 3 today with Chas Bowie, Teresa Christiansen, Dru Donovan, Joel W. Fisher, Isaac Layman and Paula Rebsom, artists in their current show, Shifting Practice: allusions, interventions, and conventions in contemporary photography. A reception for the show follows until 6. At the Marylhurst University www.marylhurst.edu/theartgym/ Map 3PM-6 Free

January 24 Hive Mind

Adam D. Miller presents Hive Mind, a show of LA-based artists. Miller is principal with Devon Oder, a photographer, who shows at Fourteen30, in The Pit LA, an alternative space. It is in Glendale, a new art frontier. It opened this Summer. The Pit LA also produces multiples of artist work on an antique Risograph printer. At Rocksbox Fine Art www.rocksboxfineart.com 6540 N Interstate Map 8PM-11 Free

January 23 Vivarium

Devon Oder opens Vivarium tonight. She has been working over the years at the intersection of altered landscape and altered photography. At Portland's first member of the New Art Dealers Alliance www.newartdealers.org, Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 1501 SW Market Street Map 11AM-6PM Weekends, tonight 6PM-8 Free

January 22 July Show

ShowPDX is a long running furniture design show descended from Table, Lamp and Chair. We like those crafts in the NW! Christopher Douglas, Joe Futschik, Jennifer Jako, Andi Kovel, and Dave Laubenthal discuss the state of and challenges around craft in Portland. The growth of Portland design, the role of women, and balancing installation work with standalone pieces are some of the topics they have announced they will address. At the PNCA Museum of Contemporary Craft 724 NW Davis 6:30PM-8 Free



Miranda July appears at Powell's on Burnside at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22.

A long time ago, Miranda July was a Portland performance artist. At its core her work is story telling. She spent over a year in her studio in the Fez building on Burnside downstairs from the ballet studio writing what was to become her film.

Big Miss Moviola, media performances, film acting, writing, directing, social practice art, interactive art websites, a mobile app.

Speed up to now. She reads from her first novel First Bad Man tonight. Should be good.

Some of the audience are meeting up at the Ace before. At Powell's 3rd floor. www.powells.com. 10th and W Burnside 7:30PM Free