When the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center announced last month that it will shut its doors, the news struck a death knell for one of the city’s most prominent multicultural arts organizations. But now another arts group with strong multiculti roots may move into the IFCC’s historic space on Interstate Ave. Portland Tribune has the story […]
Artsy
Tonight: Opening Reception for Scarecrow at Reed’s Cooley Gallery
Robert Rauschenberg’s “Autobiography” Daniel Spoerri’s 1969 film Resurrection starts with a close-up of a pile of brown mush, which de-coils and rises as a continuous mass, sliding into a man’s ass in a smooth singular motion. Next, a steak is un-eaten, each bite glued back to the larger whole with a knife. Things continue going […]
Top Gun: The Musical
Sometimes you just have to get out of the way and let the press release speak for itself. (This one, it is worth noting, was sent at 3:10 AM.) Grab your wingman by the stinger, or lose him forever — Hot Gun the musical is locked and ready to load! The best of the best […]
Mega Man Mosaic Trumps Everything You’ve Ever Made
It’s Friday, work will only have you in its skeletonic grip for a few more hours and the weekend holds endless promises of half-assed riots and police violence. With that in mind I thought I’d share something heartwarming. Something pleasant. Something proving yet again that there are people out there on the ‘net who have […]
Grass Hut to Close Current Space and Move into Floating World
“delight of a decomposer” by Andy Kehoe From Grass Hut’s blog: grass hut is moving after the end of the month. We will be open mostly reg hours thurs-sun thru the end of April. A little sad to see this place I am in now go. this outweighs the joy and freedom i feel about […]
This Week’s Mercury Arts Section!
BOOKS! •Intern Jane raves about the fascinating-sounding The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a non-fiction book about the African American woman whose cells provided the basis for the “first continuous human cell line cultivated in a lab,” and “played a crucial role in developing the polio vaccine, treatments for cancer, and drugs for influenza, hemophilia, […]
PHART CHART TOPPER!
This week’s PHART CHART TOPPER is Alyssa Noches! Congrats, and look! We’ve animated it for you! Will you be the next Phart Chart Topper? Submit your art or photos to the Mercury’s Flickr group, and start PHART-ing today!!
Billygoat Will Blow Your Mind
Here’s a taste of Billygoat, who are a band, but are really more than a band. Their music is accompanied by incredibly intricate stop-motion animation—it pretty much needs to be seen to be believed. So see it here, and then see some more tonight at Holocene, where the duo—recently relocated to Portland—are on a bill […]
New Venue Alert: Lents Commons
SE 92nd and Foster needs love too, so Lents Common is swinging open their doors next Friday, April 16, at 9201 SE Foster. This “community-based arts center” will house live music, theatrical events, plus plenty more. Tell it like it is, press release: Thanks to a shared vision, a space with untapped potential, lots of […]
A-WOL Dance: Comic Book Action in Zip Zap Zoom
Nick Dawes A-WOL Dance‘s current performance, Zip Zap Zoom, got its concept from a story by a fifth grader; Savannah Somerville has concocted a comic book-style plot about three sisters (named Zip, Zap, and Zoom, naturally) and their fight for good and evil. The show is perfectly timed to kick off April, which has been […]
Arts Intern Wanted!
Hey, the Mercury is looking for a new arts intern! OMG that is so totally you! Here’s what we’re looking for: • Someone who is interested in the Portland arts scene, including visual art, books, theater, dance, and, you know, other kinds of arts stuff. If you hate the arts, you will probably hate this […]
Tonight: First Thursday
Compound Gallery Jen Lobo Yesterday I spoke briefly with Matt Wagner from Compound Gallery (107 NW 5th Ave), who has been busily working to curate a triptych show (opening tonight from 7-10 pm). Triptychs are classically religious, three panel images, used to a narrative end. From Wagner himself: I was recently in France and was […]
