Portland Triennial Converge 45 Invokes Le Guin, Explores Deception

(MENAFN- USA Art News) The citywide triennial Converge 45 in Portland, Oregon, has opened its latest edition this autumn with an expansive exhibition spanning 16 venues.

This year's event, curated by Lumi Tan of New York, draws inspiration from the work of science-fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin, who lived in Portland for nearly 50 years. The triennial gathers 28 artists, many of whom are from Portland and the surrounding area. Tan stated that the artists are united by“the concept of impermanence, which drives their creation of new forms of communication and storytelling.”

While Le Guin's influence is a broad conceptual framework, few projects directly engage with her sci-fi imaginary. One notable exception is Trisha Baga's installation,“MORE,” at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art. The largest single-artist presentation, it explores themes of humanity's future and post-apocalyptic survival. Baga's four-channel stereoscopic video combines home videos, footage of the Titanic wreckage, information on NASA experiments in disembodied consciousness, and scenes from sci-fi films. Nearby, ceramic sculptures resembling deteriorating keyboards and laptops are displayed on tables, inviting viewers to consider the future study of contemporary technologies.

Other artists whose work aligns with Tan's concept of impermanence include Marcus Fischer, who offers a sonic meditation on family history and dislocation, on view through December 5. Patricia Vázquez Gómez investigates the evolution of language over centuries, also through December 5. Rob Rhee explores inherited technologies related to growth and natural farming, closing on November 14.

However, many artists in the triennial question the reliability of storytelling rather than celebrating its potential to“imagine other ways of living,” as Tan wrote. Among these are Ido Radon, Rose Salane, and keyon gaskin.

At the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Radon created a human-sized chess board with large metal sculptures made from Erector Sets, on view through October 3. These sculptures mark the positions of chess pieces from a 1990s game where IBM's Deep Blue computer defeated world champion Garry Kasparov. An accompanying statement by Radon states,“The con or the practice of social engineering is not unlike redirection in the art of illusion or magic.” She references the 1770 Mechanical Turk automaton, which famously defeated figures like Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin before being revealed as a wooden figure concealing a human operator.

Portland artist keyon gaskin, known for their institutional critique, also addresses deception. In a performance at Barn Radio, gaskin threw toilet paper into an exhibition space while singing about dissatisfaction with the triennial's leadership over a canceled project and two years of unpaid conversations. Gaskin observed,“You can't spell converge without 'con'.” The artist then lowered a roll gate, gathered the tissue, and lit a match, prompting audience anxiety and forcing them to question truth and belief.

At Reed College, Rose Salane's project, on view through December 10, directly engages with Portland and explores believability through tactics reminiscent of reality television and magic. Salane purchased a pair of Princess Diana's shoes at auction and displayed them in a local mall for residents to interact with, while a film crew documented reactions. This intimate setting was contrasted by a collaboration with a local magician, who featured the shoes in a disappearing act. Salane's resulting video, alongside related props from which the shoes are absent, casts doubt on their origin story.

The triennial, which features powerful and captivating presentations, ultimately leaves the specific meaning of“converge” on the 45th parallel unclear.

Source: The Art Newspaper

MENAFN01102026005694012507ID1111749122