Jumpsuits, tai-chi and roving theater: South Waterfront's artistic experiment

If you've ventured down to the South Waterfront district in the last year, at times there haven't been many people around beyond construction workers building condos, medical staff and patients at OHSU, and a few of the first intrepid residents to this new area of town.

But maybe you've seen a woman in a strange orange jumpsuit that's been altered into a dress. If you thought to yourself, 'What's that weird artist doing in South Waterfront?", you weren't far off. Artist Linda Johnson has been acting since September 1, 2007 as the neighborhood's official artist in residence.

What does it mean for a neighborhood to have an artist in residence? It's not necessarily the kind of situation there are rules for. But Johnson, more than presenting her own work, has brought in a steady stream of guest performers and artists (13 in all) to help give South Waterfront something that it can't achieve solely from the metal and glass of its modern towers: a sense of community.

 

Or, as their website puts it, "Artists representing all media have been invited to create time-based, temporary work that explores and promotes a sense of place in the South Waterfront district. The goal of this accumulated practice of installation, performance and written/spoken word is to inspire dialog, inquiry, curiosity and participation among the South Waterfront residents, as well as the people of Portland."

I can't think of too many neighborhoods that have tried such a thing, but SoWa is the perfect place. When you walk around this less than half-finished neighborhood, it desperately needs people to come out of their condos and establish a personality. Many of the artists' efforts may be conceptually esoteric or even a little silly, but that's all part of the fun.

Johnson has a history of art that celebrates and enlivens forgotten or under-utilized urban spaces. In 2000, her performance piece "Tax Lot 1S1E44ODD" converted a median strip near an I-5 offramp into a community garden. The year before, she was part of a group art show at the AIA gallery with architect Mark Lakeman and artists Brian Borello and Vanessa Renwick in which the crisp, modern Jeff Lamb-designed space was covered with hay bales.

Among the artists and presentations so far: In July there was Ten Tiny Dances, with site-based dance performances throughout the neighborhood. Also last month, noted public artist Bill Will created with Johnson in "Promenade" an episodic sound, light and performance piece tuned with the sunset and the landscape.

In May, artist Horatio Hun-Yan Law organized a series of interactive tai-chi workshops. In March, artist Adam Kuby actually treated the landscape itself, subject in previous generations to ruptures and injuries through the building of I-5 and the severing of the Corbett/Terwilliger/Lair Hill neigbhorhoods from the water, with giant acupuncture needles. In April, Maria T. D. ("touchdown"?) Inocencio and Mark Smith created in "Compass" an interactive map-making project with residents that put Portland at the center of the world and asked them to fill in the blanks. There have also been performances and works by the talented jazz musician Tim DuRoche and photographer Christopher Rauschenberg (son of Robert Rauschenberg), among others.

For those still looking to get in on the action, next up is the final month of the guest-Artist in Residence program. Sojourn Theater's "Built" is will investigate the essence of place with a series of games, research, performance and audience interaction. As their press release says, "Sojourn asks participants to help imagine the multi-faceted futures of cities in the midst of growth and change." Today (Saturday, August 23) will include a public dialog, and then performances of the finished piece will be held during the TBA Festival on September 5, 6 and 7.

Congratulations to Linda Johnson on a year's worth of successful efforts to create a sense of place for the architecture and people in South Waterfront to thrive.

Comments

[David]

its great to see art in the city...but can't think of anything more phony. maybe it makes the residents feel less guilty about living in a sterile, elitist place that a real artist could never afford to live.

[john]

David,
So you mean in order to be a "real" artist, you have to be poor? I know a lot of local artists that seem to be relatively well off because they are good at what they do.

[kalliope]

Am a little late on this post, but as a resident of the South Waterfront I would like to respond to David who appears to know very little about who is living down here, and what it is like, or else his comment would not have been so far off the mark. With all due respect, David, there is growing, thriving community of residents who believe and support the arts, and supporting artists.

Most would agree with you that the "Artist in Residence" program this past year was phony. The program was inserted into our neighborhood without any discussions with residents, and it's safe to say based on the lackluster involvement it did not connect because it wasn't authentic.

I would invite you to take a closer look at what is happening down here, after only a little over two years, diversity thrives in the South Waterfront.