MSHR instruments

We tend not to cover performance art much being a visual art focused site but MSHR's performances look to be as much interactive sculpture/installation as performance... that and what better way to celebrate the summer solstice than at Appendix? Here's the PR:

"MSHR is a collaborative project by Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper from Oregon Painting Society. The duo harnesses elemental forces to nurture ecstatic cybernetic ecosystems. Their sculptural human-electronic interfaces offer visitors interactive ocular/aural experiences within an augmented reality of mirrored glowing sand glyphs, sonic ancestral rainforest codes and misty laser feedback corridors. In two presentations, MSHR will ritualistically engage a trans-dimensional organic synthesizer to unfold earthly doors to terrestrial transcendence."

Oh yeah... well don't cross the streams!


Solstice opening: Wednesday, June 20th
Opens 7PM | performance 9PM

Last Thursday closing June 28th
Opens 7PM | performance 9PM

Video Screening: Sunday July 1st
MSHR curates a 45-minute compilation of influential video art, 9PM


Appendix Project Space
south alley between 26th and 27th Avenues off of NE Alberta Street

Performance art is visual art, Jeff.

Yes in a very parochial sense... just as food is also very visual and an art form, yet I think everyone can agree it is judged by very different criteria. Same goes for cinema. Similarly, visual art (small v not capital V) is a different genre with important crossovers. I've defined this many times in the past but for PORT's purposes we define visual art as putting the weight of the work's success as being primarily determined by the visual content... which can usually exist outside of the performance's duration even if performance is involved.

In this particular case the exhibition starts at 7:00 but the performance will be at 9:00. For our purposes that makes this an exhibition as well as a performance. If it were simply a concert on a stage we probably would not cover it.

Why bother to define? Because resources are limited and by focusing on what we define as visual art (mostly exhibitions and some harder to define venues/situations) we insure that poetry readings, plays, music concerts, dance, fashion shows and other very worthwhile endeavors do not occupy those limited resources. We do cover some high value architectural design because it forms a visual edifice similar to an exhibition... only longer term (notice that we dont bother with less ambitious architecture that simply fits into the pre-existing urban fabric). Don't mistake this as only being object based though, it is about the durable effect. Performance has different concerns that deserves its own site too.

PORT is a very focused publication, dedicated specifically to visual art/design with particular attention to the Portland environs.