Marcus Fischer: What Was Lost and What Remains

Oregon Contemporary presents What Was Lost and What Remains, a solo exhibition by Marcus Fischer. The exhibition is part of Site, a series of site-specific large-scale solo exhibitions by artists of the Pacific Northwest. Originally a replacement series of exhibitions for the biennial during the pandemic, Site was created to utilize Oregon Contemporary’s strength as a large-scale venue and give artists an opportunity for a solo exhibition and the ability to make new work as they expand and grow their creative practices. The success of the program which included Natalie Ball (in collaboration with Annelia Hillman pue‑leek‑la’), Rick Silva, and Willie Little, has led to us establishing Site as our third core ongoing program in addition to the Biennial and Curator in Residence programs.
Content Warning: Mass shootings, spent bullet shells
In What Was Lost and What Remains, Fischer asks: "How does loss change us? What is an acceptable amount of Loss? What do we do with that now?"The anchor in Marcus Fischer’s What Was Lost and What Remains is Mass, a sound installation that began as the artist’s attempt to grasp the increasing numbers of individuals lost to mass shootings each year in the United States. Using information collected by the Gun Violence Archive, Fischer plotted the data points from 2022 onto charts, which became graphic scores creating a framework for the sound of Mass—an arc of twelve speakers resting on twelve concrete cylinders. Each speaker vibrates an array of spent bullet casings with each movement of the composition, matching the frequency and intensity of shootings occurring in each corresponding month. What Was Lost and What Remains is a collection of work addressing loss, generational trauma, and gun violence in America, but it is also a container to hold space for these things that aren’t so easy to talk about.

"There are many different types of loss." says Fischer. "Loss takes varied forms and manifests in different ways. It is one of those intangible things that is defined by the absence of something rather than by its presence. But it can be something that we feel in our bodies. Loss changes us."

In music, Fischer regularly explores generation loss, experienced through recording sound upon sound on the same length of tape—listening to each subsequent layer— forcing the past to be erased. Visitors can both see and hear the degradation from repeatedly making a copy of a copy. Things start to distort and change in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Moving from the sonic artifacts of loss into the physical, Fischer has been searching for ways to illustrate these ideas through objects. This has led him to work in new materials and methods, melting and casting brass, letterpress printing on fabric, and mapping data in spreadsheets to convert charts into graphic scores.

Fischer says "The intent for Mass is as much about the subject matter as it is about transforming cold, statistical data into something that the viewer feels in their body and also hears with their ears."

Mass was developed during Fischer's time as the sound artist in residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska.

Marcus Fischer is an interdisciplinary artist and musician based in Portland, Oregon. He is a first-generation American artist that explores sound through creation, collection, and transformation into immersive, layered compositions for live performances and exhibitions. Site-specific assemblages of exposed speakers, tape loops, and handmade objects are characteristic of his installations, often paired with melodies of restraint and tension. Marcus has released numerous recordings—both solo and collaborative. He contributed two sound works and two performances to the 2019 Whitney Biennial as the singular artist from the Pacific Northwest region included in the edition. He has been awarded residencies at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s Rauschenberg Residency, and at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art.
Marcus has recorded and performed nationally and internationally as a solo artist and in collaborations with artists including Taylor Deupree, Aki Onda, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Laura Ortman, Stephen Vitiello, Calexico, Raven Chacon, and Simon Scott.
The Site program is supported by the Henry Lea Hillman, Jr. Foundation. Oregon Contemporary is supported by The Ford Family Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Robert & Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, VIA Art Fund and Wagner Foundation, the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund, the James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Oregon Contemporary also receives support from the Oregon Arts Commission, a state agency funded by the State of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts. Other businesses and individuals provide additional support.

Reception: November 4, 5-8pm
First Saturday Open House: November 4, December 2, January 5, 5-8pm
Oregon Contemporary

November 3 2023 – February 11 2024

Free and open to the public. ADA Accessible

Gallery hours: Friday–Sunday, 12-5pm.

8371 N. Interstate Ave Portland, OR 97217