Notations (Surplus)
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.
–
The following invitations were left for viewers over the three weeks that the piece will be is up:
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.
This work is one of three parts of:
a commemoration in several parts: an investigation of our relationship to a place (Surplus)
Link to Surplus Gallery page
October 31, 2015 – November 20, 2015
senseofplace LAB was invited by Gabe Flores, the director of Surplus Space – an alternative gallery in Portland – 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.