a commemoration in several parts; an investigation into our relationship to a place (SURPLUS)
senseofplace LAB
October 31st - November 20th 2015
a commemoration in several parts: an investigation of our relationship to a place (Surplus)
October 31, 2015 – November 20, 2015
senseofplaceLAB.com
senseofplace LAB was invited by Gabe Flores to create a work in October that would mark the final show and the end of the space.
a commemoration in several parts is an investigation into the physical and emotional properties of Surplus Space and the area surrounding it, as well as the relationship Surplus Space has had with its community.
senseofplace LAB invited contributions from the community to create this project. Thru working with the Surplus community over a period of three days, senseofplace LAB created a three-part installation as an artistic reflection on the inside/outside of the space, to tell the layered stories of this place.
Notations (Surplus), 2015
Parlor
During the opening the community added their remembrances of the house onto pieces of found paper from the house that are printed with “This is where . . .” They then embedded each of their notes into the cracks in the wood walls, to reference that their memories (and everyone elses that have experienced the house) are inherently embedded into the architecture. The wood takes on the qualities of lined paper with the notes attached to it.
The piece is a quiet, reflective, meditative work. The room is to be seen as a ‘transition’ space for viewers to process ending their relationship to this place; and as a container to consider all the spaces that we leave. You are welcome to read some of the notes left by others. (Just please put them back where they were).
To consider when experiencing this piece:
Invitation #1
Is there a place that you left, that was hard to leave? What kinds of activities/sounds took place within the walls when you were there? Write it down on the found paper, and place it in the wall.
Invitation #2
What does it mean to you to have had an alternative art space in this neighborhood in Portland? Write it down on the found paper, and place it in the wall.
Invitation #3
Ask Gabe about specific aspects of the piece, and have him share the history of the space - and his personal history in the space - with you.
The piece is a quiet, reflective, meditative work. The room is to be seen as a ‘transition’ space for viewers to process ending their relationship to this place; and as a container to consider all the spaces that we leave. You are welcome to read some of the notes left by others. (Just please put them back where they were).
To consider when experiencing this piece:
Invitation #1
Is there a place that you left, that was hard to leave? What kinds of activities/sounds took place within the walls when you were there? Write it down on the found paper, and place it in the wall.
Invitation #2
What does it mean to you to have had an alternative art space in this neighborhood in Portland? Write it down on the found paper, and place it in the wall.
Invitation #3
Ask Gabe about specific aspects of the piece, and have him share the history of the space - and his personal history in the space - with you.
Notations
Time_line, 2015
in collaboration with Eric Neilson, Gabe Flores and Michelle Wood
White Box
In contrast to Notations (Surplus), Time_line is a busier work. Materials found in the house were organized to tell a linear history of the people connected to each of the objects, and their relationship to the house. Three sections represent the most recent occupants in the house. A path runs through the work, which serves as a walkway for Marmalade – the 17 year-old cat that lives there – and who is connected to all three eras. (Homemade orange marmalade was served during the opening).
Era 1 is represented by the table that Delpa – a single black woman who owned the house by herself from 1926 – would sit at it daily, and look out the window. There is a hole made in the wall where the window was, to mark what her view would’ve been. Era 2 is represented by many of the objects that the second owner “Ernie” hoarded, and Era 3 is referred to by the re-installation of the “hovel” (as named by Gabe, the present owner) – the small architectural piece that was originally in another room that the present owner sleeps and works in, as the rest of the house is used as a gallery.
During the opening, there was an impromptu performance: Michelle slept up in the “hovel” throughout the four hour opening, signifying Gabe’s living there. He was also represented through my wearing his clothes and name badge during the opening.
Era 1 is represented by the table that Delpa – a single black woman who owned the house by herself from 1926 – would sit at it daily, and look out the window. There is a hole made in the wall where the window was, to mark what her view would’ve been. Era 2 is represented by many of the objects that the second owner “Ernie” hoarded, and Era 3 is referred to by the re-installation of the “hovel” (as named by Gabe, the present owner) – the small architectural piece that was originally in another room that the present owner sleeps and works in, as the rest of the house is used as a gallery.
During the opening, there was an impromptu performance: Michelle slept up in the “hovel” throughout the four hour opening, signifying Gabe’s living there. He was also represented through my wearing his clothes and name badge during the opening.
Median as Commemorative Space, 2015
in collaboration with Michelle Wood
Outdoors
Over a period of two days before the opening, senseofplace LAB worked with Michelle to turn the median in front of the gallery into a permanent marker to acknowledge the life of the house. Michelle began by first removing all the weeds and stones in the median, and we then planted a tree – that was in a pot from the back of the house – equidistant from a tree already planted there and made a sculptural marker with all the removed stones.
Many of the stones will be etched with people’s names that have had a connection to the house, and the space will be ‘launched’ during the closing event.
