Oregon Center for Contemporary Art (also known as Oregon Contemporary, formerly Disjecta) is an

art center Art Center may refer to: * Arts centre, a type of community centre that focuses on the arts * Art Center College of Design, a college in Pasadena, California {{Disambiguation ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. It is home to the Portland Biennial since 2010, continuing in the tradition of the Portland Art Museum's ended Oregon Biennial.

Programming

Oregon Contemporary heads a number of public programs including the Artists' Biennial, the Curator-in-Residence program, a Special Art on Loan program, and various exhibition programs apart from Curator-in-Residence seasons, such as the Site program which mounts site-specific installations from Pacific Northwest regional artists. Their Platform resource also offers subsidize space rental for local businesses and projects in order to deepen connections with the community. Oregon Contemporary's Curator in Residence program began in 2011 and is the first of its kind in the region. The model involves the curation and mounting of three exhibitions in a year-long program season, with each exhibition running for up to eight weeks. Curators include home school (2022-23), Lucy Cotter (2021–22), Justin Hoover (2019–20), Suzy Halajian (2018-19), Julia Greenway (2017–18), Michele Fiedler (2016-17), Chiara Giovando (2015–16), Rachel Adams (2014-15), Summer Guthery (2013–14), Josephine Zarkovich (2012–13), and Jenene Nagy (2011-12). Visual arts programming highlights include solo exhibitions by

Natalie Ball Natalie Ball (born 1980) is a Klamath people, Klamath/Modoc people, Modoc interdisciplinary artist based in Chiloquin, Oregon. Background Born in Portland, Oregon, Ball is enrolled in the Klamath Tribes. She is also of African-American, Modoc, ...

Avantika Bawa Avantika Bawa (born 1973) is an Indian American artist, curator, and professor of art. Bawa is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily in site-specific installation, video, printmaking, and drawing. She is the recipient of the 2018 Crow ...

, Karl Burkheimer, Tannaz Farsi, Anna Fidler, Chris Fraser, Dan Gilsdorf, Peter Halley, Mark Licari, and

Jenene Nagy Jenene Nagy, a native of New York, is a Los Angeles-based installation artist and curator. She received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Oregon in 2004 and has co-curated the noted Tilt Gallery and Project Space with Joshua West Smith ...

. In 2010 (then known as Disjecta), Oregon Contemporary launched the first Portland Biennial. The Biennial, which originated at the Portland Art Museum in 1949, is a major survey of Oregon artists who define and advance the state's contemporary arts landscape. The Portland 2019 Biennial was curated by a group of three regional curators–Yaelle S. Amir, Elisheba Johnson, and Ashley Stull-Meyers. The Biennial received positive reviews particularly for including new, diverse voices and a wider curatorial scope than previous biennials. Past curators of the Biennial include

Cris Moss Cris Moss is a curator and multimedia artist based in Portland, Oregon. Currently Cris Moss is the director and Curator of the White Box gallery at the University of Oregon's Portland campus. Initially noted for his ongoing series of itinerant do ...

(2010), Prudence F. Roberts (2012), Amanda Hunt (2014), and

Michelle Grabner Michelle Grabner (born 1962 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin) is an artist, curator, and critic based in Wisconsin. She is the Crown Family Professor of Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she has taught since 1996. She has curated sever ...

(2016). The 2024 Biennial was curated by Anuradha Vikram and Jackie Im; the 2026 Biennial is to be curated by TK Smith.

History

Oregon Contemporary, was founded under the name, 'Disjecta' as a non-profit art organization in 2005 with the goals of moving to an expanded 20,000 sf space in

North Park Blocks The North Park Blocks form a city park in the Pearl District, Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Most of the park is in northwest Portland (north of Burnside Street), but one block ( Ankeny Square) is in southwest Portland (south of Burnsi ...

. The plans were launched with a high profile party. Disjecta then moved to the Templeton Building on what is now known as the Burnside Bridgehead. In 2008, Disjecta announced the public opening of a 20,000 sf facility at 8371 N Interstate in the historic Kenton neighborhood. The center now houses five fully leased artist studios, along with 3,500 square feet of visual exhibition space, a 600 sf performance space, and an open space that houses performances and community events. In 2016, Disjecta announced the departure of founder, Bryan Suereth, amid some mild controversy. The board hired Blake Shell as executive director in April 2017. On June 14, 2021, Disjecta was officially renamed the Oregon Center for Contemporary Art (or Oregon Contemporary, for short).

References

External links

Oregon Center for Contemporary Art
2000 establishments in Oregon American artist groups and collectives Arts centers in Oregon Arts organizations based in Oregon Arts organizations established in 2000 Culture of Portland, Oregon Tourist attractions in Portland, Oregon {{Oregon-org-stub