Five Standouts at Portland’s Converge 45 Triennial, From a Gourd Frieze to a Performance That Played with Fire
ARTnews highlighted five notable works at Portland’s Converge 45 triennial, founded in 2016 by dealer Elizabeth Leach to draw attention to art on the 45th parallel. The latest edition, titled “Here, To you, Now,” is curated by New York–based independent curator Lumi Tan and takes its name and conceptual framing from Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1985 novel Always Coming Home, contrasting fixed written language with shifting spoken language. The triennial spans 16 venues across Portland and includes 28 artists, with more than half based in Portland alongside participants from cities such as New York and Los Angeles; some presentations remain open on varying schedules, with certain sites continuing into 2027. The article notes strengths in individual works but describes the overall exhibition as uneven, questioning how consistently the curatorial concept connects across the widely dispersed, mostly white-cube venues.
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This story was covered in Repatriation Reckonings and High-Stakes Art Heists