Photos: Disjecta Begins Sixth 'Curator-in-Residence'

Disjecta Contemporary Art Center kicked off its sixth Curator-in-Residence season, featuring Michelle Fiedler, on Saturday, Sept. 24 with inaugural exhibition Structures and Feelings. The display, which features works from artists Adriana Lara and Anna Gray + Ryan Wilson Paulsen, explores theories, pop songs, PDF files, PowerPoint presentations, Venice, the political unconscious, text-message spam and the objects of "The Communist Manifesto."

Artist Adriana Lara, born in Mexico City, has had interdisciplinary and self-taught practice, with exhibitions throughout France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico and a number of venues within the U.S. She has also served as editor-in-chief of Pazmaker, an art quarterly published in Mexico City, since 2006.

Portland residents Anna Gray + Ryan Wilson Paulson are two individuals who collaborate as one. Together, they create objects, books, events and ephemera, using art as a medium for experimentation with language, politics and social life. The pair's pieces have been displayed in institutions within Chicago, California, Florida and multiple locations throughout Oregon as well as on the pages of NOON Literary Annual.

Born in Puerto Rico, curator Michele Fiedler is currently based in Mexico City, where she oversees the Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros. Her current research centers on the emergence of neologisms, shifting meanings, subjectivity and the influence of popular culture. Fiedler's curriculum vitae includes the Getty's LA/LA initiative in Pasadena, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Italy and Park of Arts Muzeon in Moscow.

"The exhibition deals with elements of communicative behavior, specifically mechanisms behind the construction of thoughts and products which are dispersed through pop media, cultural forms and technological platforms. The combination of words from the title come from a short chapter in Raymond Williams's 'Marxism and Literature,' where he sets out the hypothesis that before the final construction of a theory or before pinning down a concrete definition of a cultural phenomenon, there are feelings that aren't yet words," said Fiedler. "They are thoughts but still in a state of formation structures. Though the show is not talking about that moment that happens before definition, both concepts of structures and of feelings are present in the works of the artists, as music may be a sentimental thing and theory a structure of thought, but even more, the works do go into the deeper structures of products that create feelings.
The whole season will deal with very direct systems of information like lectures, the internet, archives, biographies and others."

Disjecta's vision is this: to provide a catalytic platform for forward-thinking work by visual and performing artists, showcasing new ideas and engaging new audiences while fueling artistic collaboration through local and national purview.

Structures and Feelings is open to the public through Sunday, Oct. 30. Additional details surrounding the exhibition are available through the Disjecta Contemporary Art Center website.

Photos courtesy of Mario Gallucci