News

http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2010/05/upcoming_open_engagement_at_po.html

There's too much going on this weekend.

Natascha Snellman's new show at Fourteen30 Contemporary, for instance, opens Friday night with a reception from 6-9 p.m.

But most importantly, for a select part of the local art world, "Open Engagement" kicks off.

Spearheaded by Portland State University's Art and Social Practice department and co-sponsored by Portland Community College and the Pacific Northwest College of Art, the three-day conference of lectures, events and more gathers roughly 100 artists, activists, curators, "farmers, community organizers, filmmakers and collectives," including Mark Dion (pictured), who created a new work in collaboration with PSU.

But this isn't any old confab. As both the conference's subtitle -- "Making Things, Making Things Better, Making Things Worse" -- and the inclusion of farmers and community organizers indicates, "Open Engagement" frames a growing movement in American art practice that, according to a description of the conference, challenges "our traditional ideas of what art is and does." These artists don't regard art as solely objects but also as experiences, events, moments of public activism and interactions with the public.

For more information including listings of events and lectures, go to openengagement.info. The conference is free to the public.