THE PANAMERICAN ADDRESS OF THE PEOPLE OF PORTLAND

WE, THE PEOPLE OF PORTLAND, on this day, Thursday, June 1, 2006, at the Feldman Galley of the Pacific Northwest College of Art, at the Pearl District of the City of Portland, Oregon, United States of America;

Whereas we recognize that the city of Portland has a strong tradition of openness and dissent that includes the challenge of racial segregation, the support of local businesses and nourishment of social programs;

Whereas we recognize that Portland is a city where we offer free items for the taking on our doorsteps, and that we are a city of free boxes, not large retail boxes;

Whereas we recognize that, despite this tradition, there is a prevalent and alarming apathy of political participation in the Portland community, where voter registration and turnouts are down to 35%;

Whereas we recognize that Portlanders have bumper stickers saying “Keep Portland Weird”, acknowledging that this action is symptomatic of an isolationist tendency to retain our spirit as liberal but detaching ourselves from the rest of the nation;

Whereas we recognize there is a gap between the idea of community and the critical practice of it;

Whereas we recognize that the necessity of choosing a definable scope for creative effective change is paradoxically hampered by our openness to dissent;

Whereas we recognize that the increasingly competitive nature of U.S. society is taking an unhealthy direction that undervalues cooperation;

Whereas on the river over the Burnside Bridge there is sign which reads “Made in Oregon”, an urban marker;

Whereas we support the idea that change can grow locally, and that our sustainability depends on us becoming more independent;

We shall strive to move this spirit beyond this locality and to serve as an example that can be adopted by others in this nation;

We will not be absorbed into a mainstream that we disagree with, nor will we be separated into our own island of dissent;

We resolve to make art that steps out of the gallery of ideas and into a manifestation of concrete tools;

We are determined to put art into our concerns and our concerns into our art;

We will strive for art to be participatory and we will eradicate apathy;

We will plant parks on freeways; we will create art that moves past understanding and into action; we will burn the commodities of identity, we will teach cockroaches how to write;

We will enact an active search for the meaningful and recoverable values that now we are only nostalgic about;

We will be assertive and imaginative, and we trust that by encouraging participation the greater community will act wisely.

“We all are the others, and we all are a self”.

Signed:

Seann Brackin, Emily Franz, Dante Fugazzotto, Kelly Martin, Mack McFarland, Jamie M. Rea  , Holcombe Waller, Pablo Helguera (secretary)    

THE PANAMERICAN ADDRESS OF THE PEOPLE OF PORTLAND

APPENDED COMMENTS

WE, THE PEOPLE OF PORTLAND, OREGON, on this day, Thursday, June 1st, 2006, at the Feldman Gallery of the Pacific Northwest College of Art, within Portland’s so-called Pearl District hereby present these amendments to the Panamerican Address of the City of Portland and its equally significant environs:

Whereas we recognize that Portland has been lulled by the twisting smokes of its own pleasant nostalgias; has been blind to the encroaching crises of high rents, high ideals and grand high gentrification, in the name of progress and diversity.

Whereas we recognize that Portland’s youth and artists have become infatuated with the undeniable allure of surface effects, at the expense of the content therein, and they must recognize their role as historical figures themselves, who everyday feed off the bounty of our city’s wonderful and cluttered past.

Whereas we recognize the joy of spontaneous action, we believe genuine progress also requires rigor, criticality, forethought, and mindfulness. Our practice must be both frantic and measured, according to the Japanese tradition of wabi-sabi, the smooth and the rough.  In full voice, we say “YES!” to everything.

Whereas we acknowledge that a fault is a fault, we see in Portland’s shortcomings the first glimmer of its future, and believe that within our city’s painful failures there lie already our awaiting successes.

Whereas we recognize Portland as a seething nest of heterogeneous societies, we hereby support the autonomy afforded by our multiplicity, we hereby illustrate our existence by way of an endlessly expanding Venn Diagram, we hereby add to the constant murmur of Portland our own hopeful, cautious, hopeful voices.

Signed:

Sam Gould, Colin Beattie, Pablo Helguera (secretary)

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EL DISCURSO PANAMERICANO DEL PUEBLO DE PORTLAND

Nosotros, los ciudadanos de Portland, en este dia jueves primero de junio del 2006, en la Feldman Gallery del Pacific Northwest College of Art, en el Pearl District de la ciudad de Portland, Oregon,  Estados Unidos de América;

Dado que reconocemos que la ciudad de Portland tiene una fuerte tradición de apertura y desacuerdo que incluye el rechazo de la segregación racial, el apoyo a la empresa local y al fomento de los programas sociales;

Mientras que reconocemos que Portland es una ciudad donde uno coloca objetos gratis en la puerta de sus casas, y que por ello somos una ciudad de cajas gratis, y no de centros comerciales en forma de caja;

Mientras que reconocemos que, a pesar de esta tradición, existe una prevalente y alarmante apatía de participación política en la comunidad de Portland, donde el registro del voto y la votación ascienden solo al 35%;

Mientras que reconocemos que hay un largo trecho entre la idea de la comunidad y la práctica crítica de ésta;

Dado que reconocemos que los residentes de Portland tienen calcomanías de carro con la leyenda “Salvemos la rareza de Portland” y que esta idea es sintomática de la tendencia a retener nuestro espíritu como liberal mientras que nos separamos del resto del país;

Dado que reconocemos que la necesidad de generar un panorama concreto de cambio paradójicamente está imposibilitada por nuestra apertura a incorporar todo desacuerdo;

Nos resolvemos a hacer arte que salga de la galeria de ideas y hacia una manifestación de indeas concreatas;

Haremos arte que sea participativo y erradicaremos la apatía;

Instauraremos una búsqueda de los valores recuperables de los cuales ahora solo sentimos nostalgia,

Seremos afirmativos e imaginativos, y creemos que al inspirar la acción de otros la comunidad en general actuará con sabiduría.

“Todos somos los otros, y todos somos nosotros mismos”.

Firmado:

Seann Brackin, Emily Franz, Dante Fugazzotto, Kelly Martin, Mack McFarland, Jamie M. Rea  , Holcombe Waller, Pablo Helguera (secretario)

Apéndice

Nosotros, los ciudadanos de Portland, Oregon, en este dia 1 de junio del 2006, en la Galeria Faldeman Del Pacific Northwest College of Art, dentro del supuestamente llamado Pearl District, presentamos estas adiciones al discurso panamericano del puebolo de Portland y de sus igualmente importantes vecindades:

Mientras que reconocesmoa que Portland ha sido arrullado por la humareda de su propia y placentera nostalgia, ha mostrado ceguera a la crisis gradual de las altas rentas y aburguesamiento de las vecindades en nombre del progreso y la diversidad,

Mientras que reconocemos que la juventud y los artistas de Portland se han obsesionao con el atractivo de los efectos superficiales a cambio del contenido, y que deben reconocer su papel como figuras históricas, que se deben de nutrir del maravilloso y tumultuoso pasado de nuestra ciudad,

Mientras que reconocemos el placer de la acción espontánea, pensamos que el progreso genuino requiere rigor, espíritu crítico, reflexión y prudencia. Nuestra práctica debe de ser a la vez enloquecedora y calculada, de acuerdo a la tradición japonesa de wabi-sabi, lo puro y lo bruto. Con voz firme decimos que “Sí” a todo;

Mientras que reconocemos que una falta es una falta, vemos en las limitaciones de Portland el primer destello de su futuro, y pensamos que dentro de los dolorosos fracasos de la ciudad yacen también ciertos éxitos;

Mientras que reconocemos a Portland como un nido de sociedades heteogéneas, aquí apoyamos la autonomía generada por nuestra multiplicidad, e illustramos nuestra existencia a través de un diagrama de Venn en eterna expansión, y añadimos al constrante murmullo de Portland nuestras propias, cautelosas, esperanzadas voces.

Firmado:

Sam Gould, Colin Beattie, Pablo Helguera (secretary)