Beginning November 14th artist Alex Luboff will offer visitors to the Portland Building a timely reminder of how the development of extractive energy infrastructure is confronting communities in Oregon and across the continent. His series of hand-crafted wooden pipelines, unavoidable as they cleave and intersect the exhibition space, can be seen as craft objects, or as a design composition, but the impression of the imposing physical presence that pipelines represent in our landscape is unavoidable.
Luboff’s project examines the physical, metaphorical, and systemic obstructions dealt to nature and society by the continued expansion of extractive energy infrastructure through the metaphor of “pipeline.” Projects ranging from the Keystone XL pipeline, the proposed LNG terminal in Coos Bay, and the current face-off over construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline are just a few of the growing number of energy infrastructure projects with the potential to significantly alter our surroundings and force communities into confrontation with government, industry, and their fellow citizens. As Luboff puts it “As a systemic obstruction these infrastructure projects reinforce a value system that may not prioritize a sustainable vision for humanity and the planet.”
The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland. The exhibition is free and open to the public from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space series, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, visit http://racc.org/installationspace