Benz and Chang presents "The Bridge, 1910" at the Portland Building Installation Space
September 19, 2016
The Portland Building’s newest art installation, The Bridge, 1910, is a visual homage to the work crews that built the Hawthorne Bridge.
The Hawthorne Bridge is Portland’s oldest existing river crossing.
From the installation description: “Inspired by a historical photo discovered in the City of Portland Archives, this installation recreates a bridge work crew scene through a series of four large paper screens hung in the exhibition space. Each individual screen has been crafted into a hand-cut silhouette which offers a different layer of visual information. When viewed together—looking through all four at once—the silhouettes complete the scene and mythologize our idea of building of a bridge. By changing position in front of or alongside the silhouettes, viewers can alter their angle of view and manipulate the degree of abstraction or representation they take in.”
“…When we were contemplating the project, I came across this photo from the City of Portland Archives and was struck by the poses and faces. I wanted to bring these figures and bridge building into a more dream-like, archetypal representation…” said Benz.
Thursday, September 22 at 4pm
1120 SW 5th Avenue
September 19 – October 14
8am – 5pm
1120 SW 5th Avenue