Crystal Schenk, "Have and Have Not," currently on view at Disjecta for the Portland2010 Biennial

March's Art Spark is happening at Disjecta. They're celebrating the Portland2010 Biennial and offering attendees a chance to win a show at Disjecta (for individual artists or curated group shows). Submit a one-page synopsis of your proposal along with images before 5pm on Thursday and be ready to present your project to the Art Spark crowd if chosen.

Art chat • 5-7pm • March 18
Art Spark @ Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate • 503.286.9449

Because criticism is more than a simple popularity contest aimed at amusing or endearing oneself (or your employer) to the art scene... or an exercise in lazy caricatures that ignore the details and context at hand (that has a place but isn't criticism)... it seemed like it was time bundle a group of shows up right now around a mutual thread of ideas that deepen this discussion around the darkness of Winter and Portland's predilection for niorish arcana:


Matthew Green's Nibog at Fourteen30 (photo Jeff Jahn)

Dark: A Show to Winter at Fourteen30 appropriately ends tomorrow (a week before the Spring Equinox). Typical of the Blood Family Rainbow's curatorial collaborations it has a dark, gothic, even occult focus. It's a good show with the first room being significantly stronger than the others. This is partially because 3 of the 4 best pieces (By Matthew Green, Sven Stuckenschmidt and Molly Vidor) are in the first room. The strongest by far is Matthew Green's Nilbog (goblin spelled backwards), which has become the show's mascot. If it were a person it would be the cult leader of this group of dark souls. What makes Nilbog important is it is quite genuinely the product of a ritualized burning. By fetishing a simple chainsaw sculpture and burning the piece becomes a totemic anthropological p...

Bob Ostertag and Pierre Hébert

Artist and filmmaker Bob Ostertag is lecturing tomorrow at PAM in conjunction with Disquieted. "Ostertag explores the common ground and points of friction among music, creativity, politics, culture, and technology. In [his] lecture, "Between Science and Garbage," Ostertag will explore the notion that today's cutting-edge technology is tomorrow's garbage. The title of his lecture is drawn from a performance and film of the same name, which Ostertag created with his partner in Living Cinema, Pierre Hébert."

Artist lecture • 2-3pm • March 13
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

The Judd Conference now has its own blog and Arcy has laid out a very helpful reading list with links. Remember to register early, the cost goes up after March 22nd and space is limited. If you are an installation artist, designer or architect this event will be of capital interest.

Todd Eberle is doing some fine blogging and always great photos on Marina Abramovic's latest.

Nicolai Ouroussoff's fascinating article on Claude Parent is definitely worth a read, contextualizing the architect who has influenced younger designers like Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas. Call him the father of the current strain of counterintuitive (yet good) architecture.

Tyler Green contemplates the ethical legacy of curator Edward Fry in the Gugg's new Contemplating the Void exhibition.

The WWeek reviews the Blakely Dadsen show at Chambers.

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