Saturday, October 31, 2015

November 1 Hollows Sanctuary

The little Xhurch has Sanctuary Sunday, experimental music, tonight, with Tatsuya Nakatani & Michel Doneda, percussion, sax, voice; Xua on the Mekong Moon Vinyl label, with synths and Asian found sound samples; and Ant'lrd swirly ambient. At Xhurch xhurch.net 4550 NE 20th. Music 7PM-10 $5

October 31 No Surplus

Surplus Space closes this evening with Senseofplace Lab. It is five installations of material crowdsourced from the neighborhood and artists, some of which will stay on the site, long term. You can read a more eloquent description on the Surplus Space website. At Surplus Space www.SurplusSpace.info 3726 NE 7th 6PM-9 Free

Thursday, October 29, 2015

October 29 Paint Curious Moon Navel

Ampersand has minimalist paintings by Matthew Felyd and Russell Tyler, both from Brooklyn. Some of the other brick and mortar shops showing art on Alberta should be open this evening. At Ampersand Vintage Printed Material www.ampersandvintage.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste B. Map 6PM-8 Free



Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club is holding a 5 year anniversary celebration this evening. At Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 427 NW Broadway 6PM Free



Diego Pinion is a Mexican practitioner of the Japanese modern dance form Butoh. Butoh is learned person to person. It cannot be learned on the Internet. About once a year, Pinion visits Portland for a week or a few and does workshops with Portland dancers. Many have studied with other teachers over several years. Tonight a group of those students present a performance, Beyond Paradise, which has been choreographed by Pinion. Then Pinion performs The Moon Navel. Butoh performance witd.org/events/creative-cohort-and-the-moon-navel at Headwaters Theater 55 NE Farragut St. #9. The theater is in the back of the building by the active railroad tracks facing Winchell Street. Map 7:30PM-9 $15 at the door

Monday, October 26, 2015

October 26 Signal Turner

Ryan Pierce, environment issue artist and organizer, speaks about his work tonight. Recommended. Maybe they will video it and post later? At Portland State University Lincoln Hall Room 75 (basement) 1620 SW Park 7PM Free



Jeremy Deller, British contemporary artist, winner of the Turner Prize in 2004, and Brit Venice Biennale artist speaks tonight at Reed. Also recommended - who can argue with Sacrilege? At Reed College Vollum Lecture Hall, www.reed.edu 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd Map 7:30PM Free

Saturday, October 24, 2015

October 25 Liminal Costume Play

Liminalists is a show by Portland artists Amy Bernstein and Patrick Kelly. Bernstein lays down bright minimal gestural marks in paint on white backgrounds. Kelly layers dense graphite marks on a white background. The artist statements are more descriptive on the Nationale website www.nationale.us/amy-bernstein-patrick-kelly-the-liminalists-2015. Recommended. At Nationale www.nationale.us 3360 SE Division Map 2PM-5 Free



Peter Hernandez as Julius Smack, Jin Camou, Morgan Ritter and friends present an installation and movement piece to accompany the Portland Museum of Modern Art's current show of artist-made costumes. PMOMA www.portlandmuseumofmodernart.com/COSTUME-Oct-2015 at North Star Ballroom www.northstarballroom.com 635 N Killingsworth 5PM Free

October 24 Intangible Dark Fruit Score Mysticism

Fallen Fruit is a Los Angeles social practice project by David Burns and and Austin Young with others. They have inspired like projects in Portland. That is celebrated in the Fallen Fruit celebration today at the Portland Art Museum and around town, organized by Caldera.

Artists Tahni Holt, Natalie Ball, Bruce Conkle, Bill Cravis, Horatio Law, Aaron Lish, Marne Lucas, Jess Perlitz, and DeAngelo Raines present projects around town and at the Museum at times between 11Am and 8PM on this schedule: www.calderaarts.org/caldera/a-day-in-paradise-artist-projects/

The entire project, Art Museum activities today, including for children, and events in the coming month are described on the project web page www.calderaarts.org/caldera/arts-in-residence/fallenfruitpdx/

The Art Museum is completely free for all today.

Fallen Fruit at various locations 11AM to 8PM Free



I'm not going to attempt to write on this. And they receive the copywriting award for the month. Composition Gallery in known for its conceptual art projects involving fashion and movement.
""
Premium trend start-up Dynamic Horizons Ltd. debuts new line of ephemeral wearable technology in a stock Portland-style pop-up shop at Composition. On view every Saturday in October, 12-5 p.m.

The Intangibles line of ephemeral wearable technology meditates on the shifting nature of place, self and access in the climate of fiber-optic-fast obsolescence. Comprised of three chimeric amalgams of preexisting wearables, the line conjectures at the form factors of future gadgets as they grow more intimately on and into us.

Under the auspices of selfhood, techno-fetishist fashion colonizes the body on behalf of capital. Intangibles is your uniform in the class war, offering privileged access to boutique knowledges, niche socializations and enlightened entertainments. As information systems become incorporated into the body through fashion, life is vectored outward, electronically fragmenting it into a fine blood-mist of data points.

Technology is often tritely described as ethically neutral. This is to ignore the built-in complexities of new technologies as well as the inherent goals of their makers (i.e., profit.) Determination about the fundamental purpose of a thing is foreclosed well in advance of its use, swathed in impenetrable terms of service. Moreover, the devices and services we use also change us. We become bots in their net. This intent and tendency can be redirected, but requires cognizance, cultivated skill and solidarity among creative networks, both IRL and URL.

Intangibles devices are made from the “biodegradable” plastic, PLA*, popular in disposable table ware, and will rot for compulsory participation in the upgrade culture.

Dynamic Horizons Ltd: Intangibles was designed by Tabitha Nikolai, deSolid State, Matt Dan, Jason N. Le, and is funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

*PLA doesn't biodegrade, they only tell you it does.
""
At Composition Gallery www.facebook.com/compositiongallery 625 N.W. Everett St., #102 (mid-block on NW6th) Noon-5 Free



Disjecta continues performing their Book of Scores installation with Skater’s Score by artist Alison O’Daniel. This afternoon, skateboarders and musicians perform her score live. At Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.disjecta.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 2PM Sharp Free



Laura Fritz speaks about her artworks which are part of the Dark Matter show. At Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art www.jeffreythomasfineart.com 2219 NW Raleigh 4PM Free



Science, technology, mysticism, music and dada come together in performance tonight by artist-musicians Yacht. I'm loving that they are getting away with it! Yacht teamyacht.com at the Wonder Ballroom




Friday, October 23, 2015

October 23 Red(d) Costume

We are mostly art, but not exclusively. You may know Ecotrust, the organization and the building. They have a new project Redd, a 2 block business incubator and center for the local food business. Today they throw open their space for a potlatch party before they close for construction. Details at www.ecotrust.org/event/mill-and-grill/. At The Redd on Salmon Street 831 SE Salmon 4PM-9 Free



PMOMA opens their next show, a show and shop for costumes made by artists.

The opening events are always lively and costumes are encouraged tonight.

Rose Mackey's Halloween Shop includes costumes by Jayme Hansen, Rose Mackey, Emma Coleman, Caley Finney, Felix, M'rissa Curran, Lily Hudson, Julia Calabrese, Robert Snowden, Ellen Lesperance, Jennifer Calandra and Ben Houston.

The opening event has music performance by Jack Gilbert, Jackie Stewart and Cat Mummies at the Louvre.

Throughout the month there will be small events like "Jackie Stewart of Smegma, Cat Mummies at the Louvre and Julius Smack, a reading by Jack Gilbert, a lecture on costume collecting with Movie Madness owner and film costume connoisseur Mike Clark and a costumed photoshoot."

Should be fun!

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

Thursday, October 22, 2015

October 22 Alien Drone Award

Arlene Schnitzer was Portland's first contemporary gallerist. She and her family have been champion arts supporters and even buyers of local artists. Arlene Schnitzer Prize selects a small number of undergrad and grad student artists at PSU. The show of their works opens tonight. They are Amanda Evans, MFA student in Social Practice; Chris Freeman, MFA contemporary studio artist and Melodee Dudley, BFA student of graphic design. Opening, reception and award at Autzen Gallery, Neuberger Hall Room 205, 714 SW Harrison 4PM-6 Free



Sabina Haque has a panel discussion this evening about her show Storylines at PSU's Littman. The show is inspired by the artist's experience in Pakistan and includes interviews with Somalis who experienced the civil war there. Panelists are Namita Gupta Wiggers, cultural theorist Anne-Marie Oliver, former director of PSU's Middle East Studies Center Dr. Peter Bechtold, and Somali social and political activist Kayse Jama of Portland’s Center for Intercultural Organizing. At the PSU Littman Gallery in Smith Union. www.pdx.edu/littmanandwhite PSU Smith Hall, Room 250, 1825 SW Broadway 6:30-8 Free



Artist Stephanie Syjuco is a mid-career artist who was in art school in the mid-1990's. She is part of the Alien She show, looking at several current artists influenced by, and in the context of, the Riot Grrrl cultural movement.

She speaks this evening on her work. At the The PNCA www.pnca.edu Bison Building, the MFA in Applied Craft and Design Studios 421 NE 10th 6:30PM Free

Saturday, October 17, 2015

October 18 Hallows Eve Sanctuary

Sanctuary Sunday has the Xhurch Family Band (Recreational Satan Worship, Withering of Light (Ritual Dark Ambient) and Plague Ship (Two ships colliding and sinking). At Xhurch xhurch.net 4550 NE 20th 7PM-10 Free

October 17 Floating Experiment Tool Hatches

Hand Eye Supply is the brick and mortar instantiation of Core77. Some Core77ers in NYC are like "let's move to Portland and open a store", and they did. They are having an open house today as part of Design Week Portland's Pop Up. At Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 427 NW Broadway 4PM-7 Free



The Lacuna Club is a small experimental music+experimental performance series of irregular events. They have operated in a private home, and now they occupy more public spaces. Musicians Future Death Agency, dance performers Jin Camou and Danielle Ross and ironic performance pranksters Alex Rodabaugh and Andy Kuncl as Amerishowz from Brooklyn team up tonight. At Lacuna Club www.lacuna.club At the Watershed warehouse 5050 SE Milwaukie, Near the Orange MAX Holgate stop. 8PM $10



Float On is 5. They celebrate that tonight. These events are always a great creative crowd. At Float On www.floathq.com 4530 SE Hawthorne 7PM-midnight Free



Batten Down the Hatches is an art installation by Grace Amber. All around town, people are tarping up, sealing up and tying down for wind and rain. Batten Down the Hatches at At Xhurch xhurch.net 4550 NE 20th. 7PM-9 Free

Monday, October 12, 2015

October 15-16 Lumiere

Robert Thenke, one half of Monolake, is one of the designers of Ableton Live.

He is now focused solo on generative electronic music compositions accompanied by generative laser visuals driven by his own software. They are gorgeous.

He presents a rare US performance of Lumiere. www.roberthenke.com/concerts/lumiere.html

There are two shows each evening. At Gray Area Foundation for the Arts grayarea.org 2665 Mission St, San Francisco. Doors 6PM and 8:30, Shows 7 and 9:30 $35 (sold out)

October 14 Fringe

From the Fringe to the Everyday: Realizing the Future Through Design is a panel discussion on design enabled by new technology. But "the new" always follows an adoption curve. It may be adopted by early adopters, but it will initially be resisted and ridiculed by the masses. Over time that reverses.

The organizers note that the Internet was developed as a military research project in the 1960s. Actually a friend of mine built the first Internet router. But the Internet only began to achieve its potential in the 1990's with the development of the world wide web to support physics research at CERN.

Panelists Hector Ouilhet, Senior Staff Designer at Google NOW; Herman D'Hooge, Innovation Strategist at Intel; Hideshi Hamaguchi, CEO at monogoto & Executive Fellow at Ziba Design and Paul O’Connor, Executive Creative Director at Ziba Design provide their perspectives.

Artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality and all kinds of biotech are being designed into our lives. Which designs will be successful?

The event is a production of Design Week Portland and is a part of a mini pop-up design week, with the main event in the Spring.

Tickets http://www.eventbrite.com/e/from-the-fringe-to-the-everyday-realizing-the-future-through-design-tickets-18408412056. Design Week Portland 2016.designweekportland.com at Ziba Design www.ziba.com 810 NW Marshall 6:30PM $10

Saturday, October 10, 2015

October 11 Platform

Music, experimental fashion, visual art, performance art, DJs and dancing. You can have all of these at Platform. Fashion from Goodsport, Laura Kemp, Hannah Andrews, Melina Bishop and Kayleigh Nelson; performance by New Romancer (Manny Layers) and Lyfe Dance Company choreographed by LaTya Caples; photography by Myki Fstr; and DJs II Trill, Ill Camino, Orographic and Chelsea Starr. At Holocene www.holocene.org 1001 SE Morrison 9PM $5

October 10 Dark Motherhood Ragas

Justyn Hegreberg speaks about his black sculptures and wall panels which are part of the Dark Matter show. At Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art www.jeffreythomasfineart.com 2219 NW Raleigh 4PM Free



Yu opens a show by mothers entitled Mommy. Artists are Lutz Bacher, Susan Cianciolo, Sonya Hamilton, Anne-Mie van Kerckhoven, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Eliot Porter, Aura Rosenberg, Diane Simpson, Barbara T. Smith, Frances Stark, Rosemarie Trockel, Cathy Wilkes, Anicka Yi and Karin Schneider. At Yu Contemporary Art www.yucontemporary.org 900 SE 10th 4PM-6 Free



Ganesh-Kumaresh Violin Duo, accompanied by Shankar Narayanan on mridangam and Trichy Krishnaswamy on ghatam play classical Indian music this evening. They are brothers separated in age by 3 years, who started playing violin at ages 2 and 3 and presented their first concert at ages 10 and 13. More information on the artists at www.ganeshkumaresh.org Presented by Kalakendra www.kakakendra.org at the First Baptist Church 909 SW 11th 7:30PM $25

Friday, October 09, 2015

October 9 Mystery

Tony Hope and Marissa Jezak open a show at S1 tonight. Appears to be word art and collage. At S1 www.s1portland.com 4148 NE Hancock Map 7PM-9 Free

Thursday, October 08, 2015

October 8 Garage As Beacon

Cherry & Lucic continue Portland's gallery in a garage tradition annealed by Appendix, Little Field and Carhole.

Tonight they present London artist Ellie Ga with Measuring The Circle. It is video and sculpture inspired by the Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt on Pharos Island. It is the first lighthouse tower, built around 280BC. It was a wonder of he world in its time until toppled by earthquakes between 956 and 1323. The stones were recycled as is universal in that part of the world.

At Cherry & Lucic www.cherryandlucic.com 4077 NE 7th 6:30PM-10 Free

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

October 7 Story Beam

Art Department faculty member Sabina Haque has Storylines, video and installation themed on conflict in the horn of Africa, exmigration from war-civil war zones and narratives gathered from Somalians in Portland. I wonder if the project comprehends that the civil war attacks in Somalia, 1993, on UN food distribution resulted directly in the decision by Western actors not to intervene in the Rwandan genocide?

There will be a panel discussion October 22, at 6:30PM-8 on the show and the recent history that inspires it.

At the PSU Littman Gallery in Smith Union. www.pdx.edu/littmanandwhite PSU Smith Hall, Room 250
1825 SW Broadway 5PM-7 Free



Beam Projects has an art show in a home open tonight, thereafter by appointment. It is the project of Alain LeTourneau and Pam Minty, who have been doing shows in live work spaces, often film and video.

Both artists are well known for landscape and documentaries on people in place

Aurora is a photo show by Alain LeTourneau on Aurora, Kansas, birthplace of the artist's grandfather.

Aurora www.alainletourneau.com/photographs/aurora at Beam Projects 5232 N Williams 6PM-9 Free

Thursday, October 01, 2015

October 4 Concept Pure Blue

Blue Sky celebrates their 40th with a reception and party this afternoon. If you like, you may dress in 1975 period clothing! They will have a DJ. No word on if they will play disco. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 1PM-6 Free



Kartz Ucci is a local artist-academic who used graphic design ideas in her conceptual art. It can easily be done poorly; Ucci was much smarter about it. There is a retrospective of her work opening this afternoon. There is a much better explanation of her work on the Marylhurst website and in the Marylhurst monograph. There are more events surrounding the exhibition on October 25, October 30, November 9, November 17 and December 5. At the Marylhurst University www.marylhurst.edu/theartgym/ Map 4PM-6 Free



Pure Surface is a collaborative performance by a mover, a writer and a filmmaker. Tonight, for #20, they are Tyler Brewington, text; Dora Gaskill, movement and Justine Highsmith, film. Pure Surface www.puresurface.info at Valentines valentinespdx.com 232 SW Ankeny. Doors 6PM, performance 7 sharp Free

October 2 Eastside Art Openings

You can be a member of Newspace. In exchange, you can have discounts on classes and space rental. You also have the opportunity to show in their Members' Salon, which opens tonight. The full list of photographers and their links are on the Newspace website. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th Map 6PM-9 Free



Haunt has midnight floral photography by Amy Wennerlind along with + vintage jewelry and flower arrangements. At Haunt www.hauntstudio.blogspot.com 811 E Burnside Suite #113 7PM-9


Redux always does a spooky show this month each year. This month Sandy Peraza, born in Mexico and self taught, contributes pink with black illustrations on the theme. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside 6PM-9:30 Free


Black Box has their group show, Photo Shoot. At Black Box Gallery www.blackboxgallery.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 212 upstairs 5PM-8 Free


All at 811 East Burnside Map



Ryan Bubnis has Simplexity, graphic design influenced illustration. One Grand always draws a lively crowd. At One Grand Gallery www.onegrandgallery.com 1000 E Burnside 6PM-10 Free



Eutectic has a group show Pattern by Adam Field, Kat Hutter & Roger Lee, Forrest Lesch-Middelton, Roberto Lugo, Alexander Matisse, Ken Standhardt and John Vigeland. The theme is surface transformation of ceramics by pattern. At Eutectic Gallery www.eutecticgallery.com 1930 NE Oregon 6PM-9 Free



Worksound often has a small event on First Friday, not sure this month. At Worksound www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder Map 6PM-9 Free

October 2-3 Lacunae

The Lacuna Club is a small experimental music+experimental performance series of irregular events. They have operated in a private home, and now they occupy more public spaces. For two performances have Adam Rose, aka Antibody Corporation, from Chicago, Future Death Agency, providing sound, and Lucy Yim and Edward + Sidony providing movement along with artist-performer Kelly Mcgovern. There are two venues: Friday at the Watershed, and Saturday at Performance Works NW. Lacuna Club - Friday: https://www.facebook.com/events/129181280767870/. Saturday: https://www.facebook.com/events/731768223595900/.

Lacuna Club http://lacuna.club/ At 5050 SE Milwaukie 9PM Friday. 4625 SE 67th 8PM Saturday. $10

October 1 Westside Art Openings+

Blue Sky Gallery was started by artists in NW Portland of 23rd when that was a run down cheap neighborhood. Then they moved to the old PCVA walkup space in Chinatown when the neighborhood was unpopular. Then they had a space in an old brick Pearl District building guaranteed to be destroyed in an earthquake when the Pearl was just getting respectable. That was 40 years ago. Along the way, they have broken photographers like Richard Misrach. Commercial galleries watch them to recruit new artists.

This month they have arranged many of their photographers to print over 300 works in small format ~8x10 in one of a kind edition for sale at a very reasonable $40, plus whatever tax deductible donation you might add.

Thomas Alleman has photos of cities Xiangshawan, Ordos City and Hohhottraveled in Inner Mongolia, China. His monochrome Holga photos capture the modernization and industrialization of these cities in a nomadic high desert. The area has one quarter of the world's coal reserves, natural gas and rare minerals; it is a national sacrifice zone. And it is following the development with a Chinese face tactic of large Han in migration, diluting the indigenous Mongol population. Perhaps it is the reverse of the historic pattern of Mongols taking control of China.

At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 6PM-9 Free



Adam Sorensen releases a new series of luminous schematic landscapes. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM Free



Enfant terrible Jim Riswold has Tips for Artsists Who Don't Want to Sell. Riswold is an ex-adman who naturally explores provocative themes in his work. One of his tactics is to sample Hitler into his sculptures and photographs. He has found that Hitler art does not sell well. Now he is experimenting with Kim Jong Un. We'll see how that works. He has an artist talk October 10, noon in the gallery. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis early close 8 Free



Katherine Longstreth presents Marginal Evidence. It is a three room installation making a window into modern dance choreography, its collaborative process, and with a forensic eye, including music, video, drawings, writing and photography. At the University of Oregon White Stag Building, whitebox.uoregon.edu 70 NW Couch 6PM-8 Free



Elisabeth Horan has arranged 5 years of materials from her studio into a sort of timeline collage over 5 days in the gallery. You can see the result tonight. At Duplex Collective www.duplexcollective.com 219 NW Couch 6PM-9 Free



There is a 20th anniversary group show at Froelick if you would like to get a sense of what the gallery shows. At Froelick Gallery www.froelickgallery.com 714 NW Davis early close 8 Free



PNCA & PNCA Museum of Contemporary Craft, Adams & Ollman and Upfor continue shows. 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 usually about 9 Free



PNCA is recommended to stop in. They have long time cycle shows and pop ups distributed throughout the building. PNCA www.pnca.edu 511 NW Broadway Map 6PM-9 Free



W+K is another often worth visiting spot. It has an inconsistent schedule, not every First Thursday, and curation all over the map. Some work is preoccupied by its embrace with design and advertising. But their last show of Malia Jensen, who received an early commission for the giant beaver which graces the entry, was excellent. At W+K www.wk.com 224 NW 13th Map 5PM-9 Free



And on the Keep Portland Weird theme, MonstraSomnia is a group show or outsider artists on a Halloween theme. At Refuge 116 SE Yamhill 9PM-midnight Free

October 1-3 Memories Before History

Butoh is an experimental modern dance style originating in Japan in 1959. Sankai Juku from Japan and France is responsible for exporting butoh to the world beginning in the early 1980s. Their style is one of the most refined and elegant - they are a great introduction to the genre. Video excerpts of their performances are widely available on the Internet. It is extremely rare for groups from Japan to tour the US. There are occasional performances in Portland and Seattle by local performers.

For 3 evenings Sankai Juku returns to Seattle, a city significant to them, with Umusuna: Memories Before History. They present a workshop Sunday.

Sankai Juku at the University of Washington World Series https://uwworldseries.org/events-tickets/calendar/sankai-juku Meany Hall UW Campus 8PM $50-55