Just Playin’ Around
January 21-April 26, 2025
JSMA at Portland State University
Co-curated with Nancy Downes-Le Guin
Artists: Derrick Adams, Calvin Chen, Jeremy Okai Davis, Latoya Lovely, Jillian Mayer, Takashi Murakami, Jeremy Rotsztain, Heidi Schwegler, Joshua Sin, M. Earl Williams, and Erwin Wurm.
Play is creative, imaginative, active, fun. When we think of play, we often think of children, who learn through play how to navigate the broader world. The United Nations designates play as a universal right of children. Mental health specialists increasingly highlight play for adults as a way to add joy to life and to connect with others.
Making art has long been likened to play. Artists play with materials and ideas; they mine childhood memories, use toys and referencing games and sport in their work. Artists use play to reframe the past, recontextualize the present or reimagine the future.
Play in art can be colorful and fun, but also can highlight serious subject matter. Playfulness, surprise and humor can comment on complex emotional and societal issues. Though adult humor and irony are much in evidence in contemporary art, the art we see in institutional settings, and the settings themselves, aren’t often playful. Just Playin’ Around seeks to give visitors a peek at how art is play, play is art, and play is in art, and in all of us.
Installation images courtesy of JSMA at Portland State University. Image credit: Mario Gallucci Studios. Left image artists: Joshua Sin (left) and Jeremy Rotsztain (right). Right image artist: Joshua Sin.
Weaving Data
January 24–April 29, 2022
JSMA at Portland State University
Co-curated with Nancy Downes-Le Guin
Artists: Faig Ahmed, April Bey, Jovencio de la Paz, Ahree Lee, Kayla Mattes, Shelley Socolofsky, Joan Truckenbrod, Vo Vo, and Sarah Wertzberger.
Digital computing is deeply connected to weaving. Jacquard weaving, first demonstrated in 1801, gave instructions to a loom using holes punched in cards—an early form of binary code. Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine (1834), the blueprint for modern computing, borrowed its design from the Jacquard loom, including the punch card, which remained in use for programming into the 1980s.
Historically, narratives of industrialization have minimized the contributions of women, low-wage laborers, and people of color. This same habit of erasure now plays out in high tech’s origin myths and frequent failure to cultivate inclusivity in education, hiring, and product design.
The artists in this exhibition investigate the complex relationship between weaving and computing. Some use data analysis, while others use metaphor. Some collaborate with computers to make their weavings; others weave by hand, but use data or internet memes as a basis for woven patterns. Regardless of approach, these artists remind us that we all have a say in deciding which technologies and cultural values we choose to elevate.
Installation images courtesy of JSMA at Portland State University. Image credit: Mario Gallucci Studios. Left image artists: April Bey (left) and Faig Ahmed (right). Right image artist: Jovencio del la Paz.