Oregon Contemporary

Introducing our Season 12 Curator In Residence, Jamison Edgar, and their upcoming exhibition: 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘊𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦. ��⁠
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Jamison Edgar is a community organizer sowing roots in Southern California. A historical triangulator and avid student of the dancefloor, Edgar sculpts archival fragments into exuberant gatherings of joy and resistance. Their exhibitions, essays, and public programs emphasize the indispensable role that q***r, trans, Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists play in shaping revolutionary spirit.

Drawing on their research, Edgar will reconfigure Oregon Contemporary into an unruly site where visitors can meditate on the revolutionary relationships that emerge from our spiritual lives. In this sense, 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘊𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 is a portrait penned by a nation-wide cohort of organizers who retool the terms of sanctuary in the face of escalating political and ecological precarity.⁠

CIR Season 12 is in partnership with Sitka Center for Art and Ecology 🌿 Learn more about the upcoming season + partnership on our website

📸 by Amina Cruz

About the piece 📺️ 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦
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The second iteration of Don’t Shoot PDX’s 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 draws on archival evidence, along with preserved materials and media resources to create a Liberated Archives interpretation of Guernica.

A central theme is of America as a site of injustice, the work balances 250 years of systemic violence with a freestanding replica of the original Center at 927 NW Everett in Portland. By inviting community members to occupy the space, the installation highlights how communities have existed at the center of injustice while also generating mutual aid, resistance art, and collective organizing.

𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 is a call to action, challenging divisions maintained by white supremacy and fostering dialogue across communities.

Developed in collaboration with Media Pollution, the installation and accompanying media are designed to be continually researched, reframed, and updated in response to the needs of the communities whose solidarity sustains the work.

First Saturday with Joe Kye: 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭 🎵
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🔥 Saturday, June 6
🕔 5:00–8:00 PM (open to the public)
✨️ Performance at 6:00 PM⁠ (Sold out)
📍 Oregon Contemporary⁠
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For this special Biennial First Saturday, musician and installation artist, Joe Kye, in collaboration with botanical artist, Theresa Bear, invites the Portland community to join them in creating 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭, a collective ritual to honor our ancestors.

As a Korean American musician, he uses his practice to keep traditional Korean music, language, and culture alive, as well as to connect to the sounds and experience of life as an immigrant in the Pacific Northwest. This seance event incorporates musical performance, storytelling, letter-writing, and collective making to inspire conversations with our ancestors, and hopefully, conversations between our ancestors.

Kye and Bear invite you to bring photographs and stories to honor your ancestors to the event.⁠

In addition to the Biennial, new exhibitions will open at our neighboring galleries, and

Biennial Events in June 🔥 Check out the upcoming + ongoing programs⁠
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First Saturday ✨ Saturday, June 6
🕔 5:00–8:00 PM⁠
Performance at 6:00 PM⁠ (RSVP link on website)
📍 Oregon Contemporary⁠
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For this special First Saturday, musician and installation artist, Joe Kye, in collaboration with botanical artist, Theresa Bear, invites the Portland community to join them in creating Portal, a collective ritual to honor our ancestors. This seance event incorporates musical performance, storytelling, letter-writing, and collective making to inspire conversations with our ancestors, and hopefully, conversations between our ancestors.

KSMoCA Opening + Artist Talk 🕰️ Thursday, June 4
🕕 10:00-11:00 AM
📍 KSMoCA
All are invited as KSMoCA presents a forthcoming exhibition and programming with DeepTime Collective working directly with the elementary students of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School.

Hand2Mouth Theatre: HOME/7LAND 🌆 June 18-21 & 25-28th
🕕 7:00 PM
📍 Zydell Yards
🎟️ Ticket link on our website

HOME / LAND is an immersive journey along the paths of personal and collective memories. Within a context of critical instability, when displacement and forced migrations have caused many to leave their homes and everything they hold dear, audience members are each assigned a temporary unit in a fictional government-run shelter village called Lot 6B.

🖼️ Ongoing Programs 🖼️ ⁠
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March 31 - January 31, 2027
Todd McGrain: Debut of York
📍 Portland Art Museum⁠
The Portland Art Museum debuts this bronze bust of York by artist Todd McGrain.⁠
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April 3 - July 5th
Rememory: A Poem
📍 Ori Gallery⁠
Ebony Frison and Stephanie Adams-Santos present an exhibition grounded in memory as a living, persistent force.
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April 4 - July 5th
Invite Hope: Marcelo Fontana + Wave Collective⁠
📍 Multnomah County Central Library⁠
Marcelo Fontana and Wave Contemporary transform the Multnomah County Central Library into a space for poetic resistance, inviting the viewer to see hope as an active power rather than a passive wish.